"Holy shit, Sunny, you should've seen your own face!"
Juno was having the time of his life. Almost getting his throat cut had made him appreciate things, apparently, because moments like that were too good to miss by dying early.
What had happened was simple.
Since Juno had scared Sunny shitless, he collapsed into laughter, all mask and caution forgotten. While he was rolling on the ground, Nephis did the opposite of relaxing.
One blink later, cold steel was digging into his neck. From the angle and the look in her eyes, she'd already decided how to behead him before Sunny managed to yell out an explanation. It had seemed like she was already preparing to behead, maybe out of fright or because her pride was hurt from the scare, but Sunny managed to explain quickly enough to give her pause.
After a few hurried words of explanation, Sunny seemed to convince her that he wasn't dangerous. It was also at that moment that Juno stopped laughing and realized that Nephis seemed to have cut a little bit into his neck, drawing blood.
What a terrifying woman!
Now, Juno was sitting on the left of Sunny as they all sat around the campfire. Juno was as calm and carefree as usual. Actually, he was even more so than usual. Sunny sat a little too straight, tension clinging to his shoulders. Part of it was that Juno's sudden appearance would mean much annoyance to Sunny. Part of it was, probably, the fact that he'd ended up in the same hellscape as the other two True Name bearers. Juno could almost see the gears turning as Sunny recalibrated what [Fated] was and meant for him.
Cassie was easy to read, even for Juno. Cassie still shook a little, fingers tight on her staff. Looking at her now, Juno was—as always—surprised at how someone who looked so small and harmless had turned herself into something that could terrify even him. Truly, a monster capable of making a blade to defy Fate.
'Technically, she is older than me now, Big girl, I guess?'
Juno was still not used to being fifteen again, and he had completely forgotten about that fact during his time at the Forgotten Shore. He was busy, after all.
Juno couldn't read Nephis. She had her trademark neutral expression, letting absolutely no emotions through. Maybe if he were better at talking with people or knew Nephis better, he would have been able to ascertain what she was thinking, but not now.
Scowling at him, Sunny decided that arguing with Juno would be too annoying, so he didn't answer back. Sadly, Juno would not let this chance go.
"So, how did you feel about my little prank?"
Sunny's Flaw really was a blessing, if only to Juno. He could almost see the compulsion dragging the answer out of him, forcing his hand. Ah, what bliss.
"How else? It was fucking annoying! Why did you decide to do that?"
"Ah, dear big brother, you just don't seem to understand the greatness of pranks. You should really try to do them more often. What do you say?"
It was then that Nephis and Cassie spoke, both with the same question.
"You two are related?" Nephis asked, clearly confused.
"Sunny, you're related to a True Name bearer?" Cassie asked, shocked by how Sunny could be Juno's brother.
It seemed that Sunny didn't want to answer any of these questions. If Juno could read minds, he would have known that Sunny was saying "damnation" at that moment, specifically pointing to Juno.
"Categorically not! I and this… loser are not related at all! How could you suggest that Nephis? As to you, Juno, I don't think this is the right time to be pranking people. And stop calling me your damn brother!"
By the end of his fit, Sunny was standing. Juno was quite surprised, as he didn't remember Sunny getting angry at anyone in the novel quite like this. It was just that Juno had such a profound effect on Sunny that his usual temperament was easily broken!
"Whoa there, Sunny. Why are you so against the idea now? Back in the Academy, you never mentioned what you thought about. So wh-" Juno stopped talking at that moment. How could he have missed the reason?
Grinning widely, he looked at Sunny, then between the two girls, then back at Sunny. In a singsong voice, Juno began to tease Sunny further.
"Is my poor big brother embarrassed in front of these girls? Are you insecure about how I, as the younger one, looks way better than you? Is that the issue?"
Sunny's face darkened.
"Shut up. I am not your brother, and I am not embarrassed and that is not the issue."
Cassie tilted her head.
"You do sound a little embarrassed," she said, a smirk in her voice.
Nephis did not comment, but her eyes moved from Sunny to Juno and back again, perhaps amused or perhaps curious.
Juno clasped his hands to his chest.
"See? Clearly, the universe is on my side."
Sunny made a strangled noise.
"The universe is not— you know what, no. I refuse to have this conversation." He dropped back down, glaring at the fire. "And stop calling me 'big brother'. I am two years older, but not a brother!"
Cassie hid another laugh.
Honestly, he did tell Caster that he and Sunny were brothers, but only because it was funny at the moment. However, if Sunny continued to react this way, he would keep saying they were brothers.
Finally, it seemed that Nephis would not take the chance for this conversation to start back up as she cut in.
"We have more important matters to discuss than who is whose brother."
Juno spread his hands.
"Hey, you were the ones questioning our family tree. I was just embracing it."
Sunny muttered something very unflattering under his breath.
The moment stretched, then thinned. The first shock of Juno's arrival settled into a wary, almost comfortable quiet. The fire crackled. Somewhere deeper in Bongo, water dripped in slow, hollow beats.
Juno poked a coal with a bit of bone.
"So," he said eventually, "I would say that Lady Changing Star is right. We do have more important matters to discuss… how did y'all survive the Shore?"
Three sets of eyes turned to him.
Sunny raised an eyebrow. "The better question is, how did you?"
"Hey, that's not fair. You are in my home, so I make the rules."
Sunny held his gaze for a second, then smirked and leaned back.
"Fine then," he said. "First, we all arrived near each other. I found myself on top of a huge statue, and one night I saw a fire which turned out to be Nephis and Cassie. Once all three of us were together, we decided to join hands to have a higher chance of survival."
Juno nodded. "Reasonable."
Sunny went on, almost casually:
"Nephis and I wanted to head east, but Cassie got a vision. Said there was a city to the west, filled with people and safety. It was clearly a way out, so we started our long walk."
Deciding it would be best to feign ignorance, Juno turned to Cassie with wide eyes. He was supposed not to know that she was a seer.
For her part, Cassie shifted a little, embarrassed by the attention.
"It was… not very clear at first," she murmured. "But clear enough."
Sunny nodded and continued, a hint of pride slipping into his voice.
"On the way, we killed a lot of things," he said. "We killed so many Awakened Beasts that I lost count. From the Scavengers to even blue tentacles. We managed to put down a couple of Monsters too."
"After about a month of that," Sunny finished, "we reached Bone Ridge. Scouted around, found this charming place, and here we are. Waiting for the right time to move to the city."
Sunny finished with a little flourish, clearly pleased with himself.
"See? Very normal, very healthy journey. No curses, no Tyrants, no flirting with death more than, say, three times a day."
Juno nodded slowly.
"Not bad," he said. "For a group effort."
Sunny narrowed his eyes. "And you?"
Juno copied his tone, leaning back and sounding just as mock casual.
"Oh, where to start? I was dropped right into the Dark Sea and had to swim my way to the closest ground, which turned out to be the top of this guy. After the water receded, I climbed inside and had to kill one of the Scavengers immediately. It was actually a really easy fight, one stab and he died."
Juno shrugged, as if that first kill hadn't set the tone for everything that followed.
"After that, it was just Bongo and me. I wandered around, met a few more of his cousins, and started turning them into Soul Fragments. A pack here, a pack there… Eventually, the Scavengers learned to run when they heard me coming. Or tried to."
Sunny made a doubtful noise. "They learned?"
"Well, the ones that didn't are all dead, so I am choosing to believe in rapid evolution," Juno said. "Somewhere out there is a very smart crab telling horror stories about me. Ugh, that makes me sad. Shame I didn't manage to kill him."
Cassie's lips twitched.
He counted off on his fingers again, more for rhythm than need.
"I've killed hundreds of Awakened Beasts by this point, and probably a dozen or so Awakened Monsters. I'll tell you what, those Carapace Centurions are nothing! What you really need to watch out for are the evolutions of those flowers. Monsters they are!"
Juno then got to the second-best part, and the jaws of his present company dropped even more.
"One day, I met an Awakened Devil, too. What a bastard he was. It was this huge black bird. Anyway, it didn't really matter. I killed that thing within minutes and moved on with my life."
Now, it was time for the best part.
"I also had a sort of encounter with a Cursed Tyrant. You see, I managed to steal something from it, and I ended up catching its eye. Didn't matter at all, though, since it daredn't do anything! I just walked away from where I caught its eye and am now living to tell the tale."
With that, Juno finished and leaned back, happily watching the fallout.
Sunny, who had been sitting there smug and satisfied with his own story, seemed to deflate in real time. His lips moved as he mumbled and counted on his fingers, like he was trying to add up kills and not enjoying the result.
Cassie had gone back to trembling. Juno had no idea why—he had not threatened her, after all—but if she wanted to shake herself apart over a campfire conversation, that was her business. It still made the back of his neck itch.
Nephis was the best, though.
Her usual mask of cool indifference had cracked clean down the middle. In its place was open shock: eyes widened, brows slightly raised. The expression did not fit her at all, but given what she had just heard, Juno could hardly blame her.
A few heartbeats later, all three spoke at once.
Questions, exclamations, half-formed protests crashed over him in a jumble: "Did you see a big octopus abomination in the Dark Sea?" "A Devil in your camp?" "The Tyrant just let you go?" "How many Beasts?"
Juno blinked, then smiled to himself.
Do they share one set of brain cells or something?
Either way, he suddenly had a lot more explaining to do.
~~~~~~~~
Recently Ive been thinking about what Junos Awakened Ability should be, and lowk idk. Since Juno has a Divine Aspect, it should have a clear methodology of its abilities. I have the Ascended Ability on lock, but its hard for the Awakened one. Anyway, I wanted yalls opinions on which of the two you want. It 100% is going to be one of these at the end of the day tho.
Relating to the Soul and Soul Essence
Relating to the physical body (Not transformation, more like effie than seishan)