Chapter Text
"Corin" Thorn said flatly, looking slightly uncorrectable. Which was impressive because it meant that the spirit was actually incredibly uncomfortable. Corin really shouldn't have taken that as a victory. that fact didn't stop him from doing so though.
"Yes, thorn."
"What in every deity's name did you do?" Waving a hand towards the third figure, the Splinter of the King of Thorns contained, "This should not be possible. And why would you even try to attempt it? Did you listen to nothing I said when I introduced you to it?"
The second spirit hissed and him and he leaned away. "They don't like you calling them an it," Corin added, helpfully unhelpful. "You used to call them, well them. What changed?" He raised an eyebrow, "Do they scare you, knowing that they're doing better?"
"No." Thorn's voice was cold as ice. "I just don't like the idea of you screwing up your soul enough to cause harm to the bond and to your body."
Translation, Corin mused, I don't like that this puts my free body at risk, because I'm too impatient to wait for another weaker person to bond the sword. "How kind of you." He snarked out loud. "Truly I am touched, that's the kindest thing you've said to me."
"I do not appreciate the snark," Thorn said, face hardening and voice flat. That was probably a sign that Corin should stop, but when had he ever bothered to listen to that sort of thing? Especially when he knew that he could technically win against Thorn if needed. Or just lean on the sword to win for him, though that had much more risk.
"I don't appreciate you calling them 'it'" Corin responded and Thorn sighed. "What, then, should I refer to them as?" Corin hummed to himself, then shrugged. "Dunno. I'll work on figuring that out. It can't be that hard, now I've managed to get them more aware of everything." Sighing again, Thorn sunk into his chair and took a long sip of tea from his cup. It was a different one from the last time they had tea, black with golden thorns. Could Thorn create things in here? it would make sense, but at the same now, Corin had won the fight that first time, so either Thorn hadn't been giving it his all, or Corin had more power over it. It would make sense, given how they were in some weird not quite the sword, not quite his head space. Something to look into. He really needed to actually start looking into the things on his list, it was getting ridiculously long. Maybe Researcher could help him, that would speed things up. An ice-cold hand touched his shoulder and he flinched back and turned to see What Remainded of Flowbreak standing next to him. "Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought." He said, taking a step away so that they were no longer touching him under the guise of turning to face them, "How can I help?"
The spirit said nothing, just stared at him. This, was not, uncommon though and Corin waited for them to show some sign of what they wanted. Nothing happened, though so Corin simply smiled.