Welcome to Gaia! ::

Thaddeus met him at the door, and for all the frost Iriel had just experienced, there was something like warmth lighting the smaller man’s crystalline eyes. Concern. Relief. An edge of satisfaction. Then he saw the speckles of red blooming up through the thick material of Iriel’s coat, the way his hands smothered the fabric, and Thad was pressed to his side in an instant.

“What- what is that? What happened? Don’t…” Thaddeus kept close to him, blocking Iriel from the view of those in the living room. “Don’t let Teyla see. Come on.” One hand joined Iriel’s over the wound, the other pressed to the small of his back, gently guiding him from the entry hall and into the kitchen, where they wouldn’t have to cross paths with Elias and Teyla in the living room.

Iriel’s expression lit with a smile, allowing himself to be ushered around.

“It is barely anything,” he said with a dismissive shrug. “There was this- hm… Altercation, I suppose I could call it…” But it was barely even that. He’d only seen the girls for the span of a single minute. “Two Negaverse agents, little girls. One of them had a sword. And so.” He gestured with an open palm toward the wound.

“Two-” Thaddeus hissed, eyes wide, voice alarmed, trying desperately not to let anyone hear them. “Iriel, we- we warned you. You can’t just- You have to avoid them for now-” And when Iriel’s smile pinched in just the barest hint of dissatisfaction, Thad rolled his eyes and pressed on. “For now,” he repeated thickly, pressing the other man to settle against the counter, out of the way and stagnant while Thad flit to the cupboards to grab some first aid supplies. “Just until you’re… ‘better-’” As if anyone could just be ‘better’ dealing with the Negaverse. “-better at understanding how to handle them.”

Though Iriel suspected ‘better’ actually meant more along the lines of being someone who wasn’t a danger to this household. Thad and Eli had told him that making enemies in the Negaverse would make him a target. He was living with them, in their home, where Regal- a Negaverse deserter- was also a target. If Iriel wasn’t careful to hide himself, he would bring the evil to them.

And Thaddeus thought the Deep Space Senshi was far too blasé with his life- their lives- to be trusted to make rational decisions. It seemed like he so frequently wanted to get in fights with them, and whatever results there were of those fights? Irrelevant.

Thad didn’t want to be annoyed- and he didn’t think it was fair to be… Iriel had only known fighting Chaos for as much of his life as he could remember. It wasn’t so strange that he would gravitate toward doing the same thing here… But Earth’s Chaos was different. All the Cosmic Powers agreed. Impossible to be rid of, and still a danger to all of Order’s forces. It would just be… easier to properly get Iriel acquainted with Earth if they didn’t add antagonizing Chaos to the mix. He and Eli had wanted to help someone who could benefit Order’s cause, but… They weren’t going to do that if it was a danger to their family.

“Am I supposed to do nothing if I feel them loitering around?” Iriel hummed, extending his arm for Thad to bandage.

Thaddeus’ lips pursed. He kept his focus on the gash on Iriel’s arm. It bled freely, but it was a clean cut and not in a location that would hinder him later. Cleaning it and getting it bandaged was the most important thing. Just try to focus on that… Blue eyes flicked quickly up to Iriel, then back to the task at hand. “You’re supposed to just-” He huffed.

They had had this conversation. The conversation they kept coming back to. ’No one is forcing you to power up. The house is safe. Just get comfortable with Earth and the people here before you go looking for something to fight.’ He and Eli had both asked- begged- It didn’t matter. Lovas did what he wanted, and Thad tried to be reasonable about taking it in stride. This man hadn’t had to deal with anyone else’s safety or differing priorities for centuries.

Centuries.

He was adjusting. Thaddeus couldn’t be mad at him.

But he also wasn’t sure how much Iriel was trying. He still powered up, went out every night. Looked for trouble. Thad had never seen him sleep. Literally never. It had been weeks since he’d started staying with them. Weeks without sleep, as far as Thad could tell. It wasn’t healthy. Maybe as an alien his physiology was a little different, but Thad severely doubted he could just not sleep and be fine. But what did asking ever do? Nothing. Trying to convince Iriel with words led to nothing.

So if he wanted change, they should probably introduce him to it.

If he wanted more acclimation to the human side of life, they would have to bring it to him.

“Nevermind what you’re supposed to do,” Thaddeus shook his head, dismissing the earlier thread of conversation. “We have a lot of things we need to get done tomorrow- tomorrow during the day,” Which Iriel did not seem to enjoy as much, the little pinch in his expression confirmed it. “And I think you should join us- me and Eli and Teyla. We’re going out to get properly ready for the holidays. Shopping and whatnot.”

Something to tire him out during the day might make him less interested in going out at night. Participating in regular human activities might give him less reason to power up. “It’ll be busy and… exciting.” There were bound to be a trillion people out doing the same thing. Thad gave the bandage a final little tug before securing it. “So let’s try and relax the rest of the night and mentally prepare. Here.”

Iriel pushed away from the counter, looking over the bandage folded around his arm. It looked like tidy work, which was perhaps no surprise when it came from a healer. “Hm?” When he looked up, he was being offered a shiny red, round orb. “What is that?”

“An apple,” Thad said. “A snack. Surprisingly fresh for this time of year. I picked them up while I was out today…” He didn’t add where he had picked them up and didn’t add that there were occasionally side effects to taking a bite. Thaddeus had thought the trees growing right where anyone could find them were strange and beautiful- and other people had been partaking of the bizarrely fresh fruit. No claims of any deaths or disappearances from them.

Juuuust… Fatigue. And Thaddeus could think of a good place for a regular food that made people a little sleepy to end up.

He justified the surprise drugging by saying that it only might do anything… And it might do nothing at all! It especially might do nothing to Iriel, shaped like a ******** freight train.

Passing the apple to him briskly, with no room for argument, Thaddeus waved him away. “Just something new for you to try. Go on and sit with Eli and Teyla, I have to clean up in here.”

It satisfied him to hear the crunch of a bite being taken as Iriel went out to watch television with the family. It did not satisfy Thad anywhere near as much that as the night waned on and on and on, as Teyla and Eli retired to bed, Iriel was still there, eyes open and staring with an intrigued expression at the tv. As he always did when they left him to his own devices. So much for that fatigue.