Bat Hinge
"You two drive me crazy."
They've heard it before. They'll hear it again. Mythra is none too happy with the knowledge that beyond just acquiring each other as Driver and Blade, reciprocally and respectively, Addam and Minoth have decided, determined, that somehow it makes sense for the two of them to have a whole Father-damned relationship!
Like, it's certainly not illegal, and even if it was, Mythra wouldn't really care? What people get up to on their own time is none of her business, and the less she knows about it the better.
The problem - oh, hoho, the problem - is that by being attached, bonded, to Addam, Mythra is also attached, bonded, to Minoth.
Look. Minoth's an alright guy. He's not a liar, as far as Mythra can tell, and he's not a creep (again, as far as Mythra can tell), and he doesn't seem to relish hiding information about what he knows of Malos as if it's some secret he needs to keep for the good of all, or for his own weird self-serving trysts. She feels like she's scanned it, inventoried it, checked it over with thirty-five degrees of redundancy, but she can't refute Addam's judgement of the guy as...just a guy. Just a damn good guy.
Still...she doesn't have to like him. Actually, she just plain doesn't like him, when he's never actually told her what's up. She's just had to glean, like Addam plans to do after the harvest.
Minoth gives her a steady, studying look that tries just a little bit more of her patience. Because he's not mad. Not annoyed.
"Oh? What'd I do?"
No, he's acting innocent !
He has so much energy to devote to being...not holier-than-her, necessarily, but half as paternal as Addam, and half more of a status-bearing friend - and the problem is that he's actually good at it! Whether he thinks he's honor-bound to it, by being, again, attached to Addam, or not, Minoth treats Mythra like a divine gift, put straight into his pocket. Not for blowing up Titans, or leveling the continents upon them before doing the same, or tapping into the data stored in the World Tree. No expectations. No difficulty. Just...
Affection.
"You were being sappy," Mythra deadpans. "I cannot stand when you do that."
Addam gives her a querulous, owlish look, then turns the same on Minoth and melts into a visage of sheer contentment. Ugh.
"My hand on his shoulder? Does that bother you, Mythra?"
It's not jealousy. She just...
"I don't know what to do with this information, I guess?"
Never has. Never will. It seems like in every universe she's doomed to be the powerful, highly-articulated fashion-doll accessory to sworn kingdom loyalty in cringefail rebelliousness flavor.
But now Minoth looks slightly off-balance. Mythra gives him an appraising look, mixed with the tiniest flash of pity she can conjure, because if this is weird for him, then imagine what it's like for Mythra, who's traveled with Addam for over a year and has never, ever seen him this all-over happy.
Pony up, Ponio boy.
That's what Mythra thinks, anyway, in silent challenge. She doesn't expect him to actually respond so readily.
"Look, it's simple. A kiss for Addam-"
(on the cheek, apparently, which is...fine)
"-and a kiss for me-"
Addam goes for the lips, throwing Minoth off but not off enough to stop him from continuing...
"-and a kiss for Mythra makes three happy folks here together."
While Mythra is unpacking whatever the hell that's supposed to mean (she supposes she's feeling more girl than guy today, so the wording of that bit she can agree with, but why is she being counted as part of the three by Minoth, and most importantly, wh-), she feels a small, precise pressure descend to, well, literally kiss the top of her head, right over the middle of her part.
Yeah. That's definitely what she thinks it is.
"Oh my god, do you know how gross that is?"
"I'm sorry," Minoth says, but he more laughs through it, shaking the whole group with the force. Mythra can't say that she doesn't believe him - there's laughing because you're lying, and then there's laughing because you're lying. Difference between the two is that one of them is a cover-up. She could stick her whole fist into his Core right now and come up with nothing but hot air.
"Ugh. I'm starting to regret this," she says, just because it feels like she's supposed to. Supposed to jerk back at her teenage whims and give them the business, just because they're full of it, and just because they're goddamn cute.
Cute! Mythra actually gets a smile on her face looking at the two of them, seeing how Minoth's whole face brightens and lifts when Addam beams at him, even if he tries to hide it.
He shouldn't try to hide it. But she's not going to say so.
Especially since: "I don't regret it." It being, Mythra supposes, the acknowledgement of their...love. "Do you, Addam?"
"No, not in the least." (Aw, boo, you should have just said "I do" to make it square!)
Mythra's discovered that, when it's not blatantly painful, recognition of the plain facts can go a long way for ease of communication. A little pain's okay, though - even good. Minoth seems ready to realize that himself. Between the two of them, Mythra and Minoth know a lot about petty, futile regrets. In fact, she's starting to bet Addam has a bit of a say in that too. Not so happy-go-lucky only, after all. It'll be a lot, to have the hopes of the people weighing on your shoulders, and two volatile, moody, bitchy biocomputer-people, besides.
Tossing back her proverbial mane and thrusting her hands upon her hips, elbows out and pauldrons proud, Mythra declares, "Yeah, well. It's the power of the Aegis, or whatever."
Minoth shakes his head, a smile still ghosting his lips. "Not quite. It's the power of you."