Let's Talk About You[Lilith, Solomon]

To say Solomon's year so far had been one of immense turmoil would've been an understatement of the century. All at once, everything seemed to overwhelm him with each day that passed. What made matters worse was that, by all accounts, it wasn't even his duty that was wearing him ragged.

Quite simply, most of his concerns were rooted in matters that were simply out of his hands. For those that did fall on his shoulders, he still felt ill-equipped. He nearly ruined an entire friendship because of harsh advice, two of his dear friends had been kidnapped. One had been humiliated, another had been kidnapped and taken to another state altogether.

In other words, no matter how iron-willed his spirit may have been, he couldn't help but feel everything was beginning to unravel. Even so, he remained strong in the face of this current chaos. Or at last... as strong as he could manage.

Currently, somewhere on a beach, he was manipulating reishi as he motioned his hand around. He didn't materialize his spirit weapon today. There was no need to. Truth be told, he should be relaxing, but his mind simply wouldn't let him miss an opportunity to manipulate and refine his reishi control. Old habits die hard rearing its head, no doubt.

"Hm..."

It was another nice, warm summer day, so being at the beach again was a perfect idea. Lilith was finding some of the most interesting people on the beach these days, so today was hopefully a day to find another. The first was that sand-talky gentleman, the second that idiotic soap opera of a young couple, and apparently this handsome young blonde was going to be the third person to hand a card.

Lilith saw him standing near the water and could sense the reishi and a troubled mind, so she became curious about him. Lilith quietly stepped up behind the young man and watched him form a sphere with his reishi. She could tell by the precision with the sphere he had much more skill than that, so why was he wasting time on something so simple? She walked forward and into his line of sight.

“Hello, cutie,” she said bluntly, a warm smile gracing her features. “Girl trouble?”

"Eh?"

Solomon certainly didn't expect to be approached by anyone in particular. He didn't devote any specific effort to maintaining an unassuming aura, yet neither was he attempting to stand out like a sore thumb. Lilith's presence left him dumbfounded as his eyes wandered around for a moment, azure eyes blinking in quiet confusion. Why was that her first assumption? Was it something in his stance? His eyes? Body language? His mind quickly became a whirlwind of questions as a result. He didn't exactly know what to say at first, but regained most of his composure, turning his head to the side as a small shade of red set in. What to say here? He wondered...


"Ahem... No, not neccesarily."

Lilith smirked and then chuckled at him. Putting a hand on her hip, the one-eyed woman raised an eyebrow, as if she were challenging that answer and saying ‘sure, it’s not.’ She wouldn’t pry too much though, at least until he admitted what his issue was. Besides, she could be wrong, though that was a rare occurrence. “Okay, if you say so,” she said with a shrug. “What are you trying to do here? Spheres seem a little out of your level of skill, don’t ya think? Try something harder.”

Solomon found himself growing all the more flustered as he noticed her expression. It was clear from a glance that she didn't quite believe him, but what else was he supposed to say? His recent experiences with women were nonexistent, and the one form of female company he had, he nearly sent her to the point of no return through his foolish words.

Of course, when he was challenged to try something harder, Solomon took a moment to read her expression before nodding his head in acceptance. Since she requested it, he didn't quite feel the need to turn her away. That would be rude. Absorbing a cluster of reishi, the sphere transmuted from the shape of a sphere to a long pillar of electricity.

He was quite confident in his ability to manipulate reishi and externalize it, and he turned back to her with a playful, but measured smile. He wasn't aiming to impress, at least not purposely so, but still... he enjoyed being challenged.

"Is this more to your liking, miss?"

Lilith watched intently while the reishi took shape into something much cooler. Lightning was definitely better than a ball, but it still didn't seem like much of a challenge for the blond. She smiled wider and nodded. “Yeah, much better, but call me Lilith. None of this miss, shit,” she said and pat the man on the back. “So, what’s your name, and what’s got that glum look sticking to your face? The beach is supposed to be a beautiful place of relaxation and fun... ya know?”

Solomon blinked softly as the woman patted him on the back. Her energy was certainly a far cry from anything he was accustomed to. She was bold and free-flowing. Even more, she didn't mince her words. That was a pleasant change of pace, albeit jarring to grow used to.

Bashfully, he rubbed the back of his head as he offered a sheepish smile, pointing his finger toward the sky to allow the bolt to soar upward in a multidirectional spray of particles. Turning toward her fully now, he took a moment to analyze her question. Did his expression give him away? He contemplated on whether or not he should speak at length, especially since he'd only met her moments ago. Eventually, he figured it would do him little harm to describe his current state of mind, and he nodded his head. Where did he start first?

"My name is Solomon Richter. I suppose... you could say the current cause for my expression... is this lingering sense of guilt, and even doubt perhaps. Lately, I feel like I've failed as a friend and a member of the Vandenreich. Those who I've aimed to protect were injured without me being there to help them, and I nearly caused a woman I cared for to lose her sanity... all because I was too stubborn to recognize that she was trying to help me. Though we've made amends, I still can't shake that sense of guilt... even now."

“Ha… a firework. Love it,” Lilith chuckled and then turned back to him, her smile as energetic and contagious as it ever was. “Nice to meet you, Solomon.”

Lilith watched him and could sense something... familiar about this young man. He reminded her of someone she loved and was desperately trying not to lose. For a moment, a sadness entered her one visible eye and she reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Honey, we all make mistakes and that's okay. The guilt your feel, the regrets, the shame or embarrassment... when you make a mistake... Those are the signs that you've grown from them, even if only a little."

Lilith dropped the bag she had been carrying on her shoulder. Rummaging through it, she grabbed a shit and pair of jean shorts, quickly slipping both on over her bikini. "Come on," Lilith said and put up both fists. "Tell me more about this whole situation. Maybe I can help." He seemed like the type to relax in a spar.

Solomon smiled in response to her words as she reassured him that there was nothing wrong with making mistakes. He wanted to believe those words to be true, so why couldn't he shake the feeling that everything was his fault?

There were so many words he could've said to Violet that day. He could've gone on that mission with Stella. He should've been there to look over Violet more. He should be stronger. He should be more capable.

Every time he tried to assure himself that things were okay, some semblance of doubt continued to creep in. He always suppressed it well enough, always ignored it, keeping it at the back of his mind, but lately... even that in itself was becoming a tall order to endure on his own. Sighing softly, he nodded his head as he accepted her terms. A spar couldn't hurt.

He would never turn down an opportunity to perfect his craft, even in a setting like this. Electricity rumbled around his fists as he exhaled, slowly but surely drawing in reishi around his body. He normally manifested his spirit weapon, but part of him wanted to test himself against this woman unarmed.

"Let's see? Where do I begin? Well... I suppose the first place to start is... the recent event. There was a woman named Violet who had been training under my tutelage for some time. She ended up in a dangerous situation without me knowing where she was... and when she came back, she was injured..."

Assuming his offensive stance, he decided to assert the first attack, bursting forward with Steigen to strike at her shoulder. A rudimentary blow to maintain a good rhythm between them. Nothing extreme, nothing meant to take him out of explaining himself as they fought.

"That situation... haunted me for some time. It... frightened me to know that... even with my best efforts, where I wish for nothing but the safety of my loved ones, I can't... always be there to protect them. Eventually, she seemed to have moved on from that... and then... I... I ended up in the hospital one day... we talked... and I ended up saying something I still wish I could take back, even after she's accepted my apology."

“Wait, what?” Lilith was stuck when she heard ‘Violet’ come out of this young man’s mouth. There is no way it was the dumb ass girl with that dumb ass blue eyed idiot on the beach the other day… In her moment of confusion, Solomon’s fist struck her shoulder and the woman didn’t even budge. He wasn’t putting much of his own strength into it, so he could feel how she built like a cube of steel.

Shaking it off, Lilith took a step forward into him, aiming a fundamental punch toward under-punch toward his gut. They were keeping to a casual, friendly spar on the beach, so there was a calm amount of power here. “If she’s accepted your apology, moving on is your job, you know,” Lilith said as she side stepped, immediately aiming to send another punch to the opposite rib, sort of like a boxer would. “If you respect this girl, and care about her, why not move forward?”