“Rain rain rain,” Aniya chanted while jumping up and down and raising her hands towards the cold gray skies. “Rain rain rain,” she continued chanting excitedly as the dark clouds rolled by yet the storm defied the child’s request, keeping the cold winter air as arid as a burning desert. “Rain rain rain!” Aniya chanted louder, growing frustrated with the dismissive clouds overhead.

Iris chuckled to herself as she drank from a cup of warm tea. She knew it was just thunder and it was too cold to rain, but she tried and failed to explain it to the needy girl. She could do little but watch Aniya demand the sky open up and let rain fall when she had a whole park to play in.

Iris couldn’t help but see a little of herself in Aniya, demanding the cold and distant Titan give her love when there are plenty of other human men who could have done the same. “Sweetie, it’s the wrong season for rain. Why not snow?” Iris suggested, trying to break the girl’s attention.

“But I want rain!” Aniya called out while pulling on the railing to vent her frustrations.

“But I like snow; it’s white and fluffy and you can make shapes in it,” Iris said with a soft laugh.

“But rain is better!” Aniya said defiantly. “It’s loud, wet, and goes boom!”

“That’s thunder, pumpkin,” Iris said while trying to stifle her laughter.

“Booom!” Aniya shouted while raising her hands to the skies.

Iris giggled as she watched the needy child demand the gods for rain. “So do you want rain or do you want thunder?”

“I want booooooooom!” Aniya cheered while jumping up and down.

“Right, boom,” Iris said as she leaned back in the bench. “Sleeping during a storm is nice, but I could go for a snowstorm right now too.”

Aniya turned back towards Iris and walked towards her, muttering all the while as she climbed up onto the bench with Iris and stood on it. “Boom!” she once again cheered with her hands up.

Iris smiled and rubbed the girl’s scalp, trying her hardest to keep her laughter contained. “Tell you what, when spring comes, you and I can go play in the rain, okay?”

“But I want rain now,” Aniya said while putting on her best pout.

Iris laughed and looked back to the tea in her cup. “I wonder if Arylos can control the weather,” she said under her breath as she thought about what the Titan could do. She wondered just what the limit of his reach could be, or if he even would. “‘I won’t change the weather just to entertain a little girl’,” Iris said aloud, mocking Arylos’s growling voice and putting on a face. “‘I won’t disrupt the natural order just to entertain a toddler’. Yeah well you could be nice every now and then you idiot.”

“Idiot,” Aniya said while sitting down on the bench and crossing her arms, putting on a quiet tantrum.

“Kusoh, I swear he thinks he’s cute but he tends to forget that he’s just an idiot,” Iris grumbled under her breath while sipping her tea.

“Kusoh’na idiot,” Aniya grumbled, mirroring Iris.

“Eh?” Iris panicked, feeling the hair on her neck stick up. “Nonononono, don’t say that.”

Aniya looked towards Iris and tilted her head to the side. “Idiot?” she asked slowly.

“No, well, I guess that too, but the other one,” Iris corrected while waving her hands.

Aniya stared at Iris, her green eyes glazing over as she tried to understand what was going on. “Kusoh?” she asked again.

“Yeah, yeah that one,” Iris said while putting her finger to Aniya’s lips. “Don’t say that word; it’s a bad word.”

Aniya blinked slowly as she didn’t break her gaze on Iris. “Kusoh?” she asked again while tilting her head the other way.

“No, don’t say that,” Iris said as she continued to panic. “Dammit, why did she have to learn this from me; Arylos says much worse all the time.”

Aniya continued to stare at Iris. Suddenly, she gave Iris a wicked smile as she began chuckling uncontrollably. “Kusoh kusoh,” she said as her evil grin stretched ear to ear.

“N-Nonononono, stop it; don’t say that around your parents,” Iris squealed, continuing to wave her hands and desperately search for an explanation to Rikio and Subaya.

“Kusooooooooooouuuuu!” Aniya cheered loudly as if she could summon the rain using this newfound magic word.

“Nooooo…” Iris squealed as she covered her face, embarrassed of her mistake.

“You know, you’re so strict with everyone else, you should be strict with children too,” a growling voice said right behind Iris’s ear. Iris screamed at the top of her lungs and nearly fell to the ground, dropping her tea as she held her hand on her chest, trying to calm her pounding heart. She looked over and saw Arylos standing over her with a stupid smile on his face that she recognized all too well.

“Fuck you dumbass!” Iris shouted while trying to regain control of her rage.

“You know you would but we’re in public with a small child,” Arylos said with an evil laugh as he set a bag of goods down on a nearby table.

“I hate you,” Iris grumbled in deep breaths.

“No you don’t,” Arylos said while sitting down at the table. “And hello Aniya. Had fun out here?”

Aniya looked at Arylos, casting glances between him and Iris. Suddenly, her grin came back to her as she continued to laugh. “Fakku,” she said in an evil voice.

Iris felt her heart go cold as she looked at Aniya, not believing what she just said. Iris squealed as she rushed towards Aniya and covered her mouth, panicking all the while. “Oh no, no no no no no no no no no no, why did it have to be me? Why did she have to learn that from me?”

Arylos laughed while repeatedly slapping his knee. “Now that’s some funny shit right there,” he said while continuing to laugh.

“You’re not helping!” Iris exclaimed as her heart ran a mile a minute.

“You realize she didn’t learn that from you, right?” Arylos said while hugging his aching sides. “She only does that because it gets a rise out of you.”

“What?!” Iris exclaimed as her embarrassment matched her anger.

“You freak out and it’s freaking hilarious every time,” Arylos said while choking on his breath. “Rikio and I talk like that all the time but we don’t enable her. But you freaking out like that entertains her. It’s kind of cute, really.”

Iris’s face went bright red as she wondered if she could get away with murder right now. “Fuck you, you big idiot,” she growled deeply, matching Arylos’s own animalistic growls.

“Mpffm,” Aniya said, muffled by Iris’s tight grip. Iris instinctively understood what the girl said and continued to panic.

“Arylos, wipe her memory of this, will you?” Iris ordered in a stern voice.

“Oh no, I’m having too much fun with this,” Arylos said while taking out a loaf of bread from the bag and taking a bite. “And it will be even more fun to see you explain it to Subaya.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Iris growled as lightning erupted from her eyes and struck the Titan, yet Arylos cast away the thundering bolts like it was nothing.

“MFFM!” Aniya shouted from Iris’s muzzling grip.

“Huh?” Iris said while turning back towards Aniya and letting go of her.

“BOOM!” Aniya said while raising up her arms and jumping up and down again.

Iris chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her neck, realizing what she just enabled. “No, no boom. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Yes boom,” Arylos said while taking another bite of bread. “Go on then, girl wants boom.”

“I’m not doing it, forget it,” Iris said while crossing her arms. Aniya’s expression slowly turned sad as she worked up tears, sticking out a lip for Iris. Iris saw her and turned away, trying to resist. “You better tuck that lip in; it won’t work on me.”

“No honey, it doesn’t work on me,” Arylos said with a laugh. “You’re a needy attention seeking little girl just like her.”

“Exactly why I won’t do it; I know better,” Iris said with a scoff, trying her best to ignore it.

“Oh but she wants to see the magic trick,” Arylos said while patting his thigh in a drumming motion to work Iris up. “And you know you want to show off.”

“I don’t need attention that badly,” Iris refused while Aniya whimpered and tugged on her sleeve.

“Yes you do, and if you don’t, she’ll cry and we all know you don’t want that,” Arylos said while gesturing towards the girl just about to explode.

“Whose side are you on anyway?!” Iris barked at Arylos, wondering if she could throw Aniya at him without hurting her.

“I’m on no one’s side; I’m all for chaos and madness, you know that,” Arylos said while resting his chins on his hands and watching Iris intently. “How much magic do you make me show off? I think it’s your turn.”

Iris sighed as she looked towards Aniya, borderline about to cry with the force of a tornado. Iris couldn’t help but shake her head and chuckle under her breath, rubbing her eyes to get her mind off of things. She opened her eyes as their cerulean glow shone brightly like a star as she lifted a hand towards the sky as energy ran up along her body towards her hand as it made Aniya’s hair stand up on end. In a brilliant flash of light, lightning erupted from her hand and made a large arc across the clouds that shot back down with heavenly fury, releasing a blast of thunder that cracked in the air like a barking rabid dog.

“BOOOOOOOOOOM!” Aniya cheered while jumping down from the bench and jumping up and down, watching the blue and orange sparks of the divine lightning rain down from the skies like burning ashes.

“See? You can let loose every now and then,” Arylos said with a satisfied nod, watching the young girl run around and praise the dark sky.

Iris chuckled as she lowered her hand, not willing to make another thunderstrike this soon. “She really wants rain. Do you think you could make it rain for her?” she asked while looking back towards Arylos.

Arylos, the Titan of Fire, laughed as he put the other bread loaf back in the bag. “That’s going to be a no from me, girl.”

“What? Is changing the weather not something you can do?” Iris teased while crossing her legs and watching Arylos intently.

“No, I can do it, but I won’t mess with the climate just to entertain a couple of little girls,” Arylos said while getting up from the table.

Iris scoffed under her breath as she shook her head in disbelief. “Sometimes I know you too well and I hate it.”

“Yeah, but you love me for some reason,” Arylos said while snapping to get Aniya’s attention and beckoning her to come towards him.

“Yeah, I do,” Iris said with a laugh as she got up and came over towards Arylos and set her hands on his arm and leaned her head against his shoulder. “You annoy and irritate me, but I guess you’re too cute for your own good.”

Arylos laughed and gave Iris a soft kiss on her scalp as he took Aniya’s hand, getting ready to leave with the girls. Yet he couldn’t shake Iris’s cold talons grabbing his arm, draining the life and warmth from his arm. “Honey, you’re cold, could you let me go now?”

“My hands wouldn’t be cold if you didn’t scare me and make me drop my tea,” Iris said while tightening her ice grip on the Titan’s arm. “You can warm me up until we get home, right?”

“I think my arm will freeze and fall off before we get home,” Arylos said while gritting his teeth as Iris’s icicles for nails dug into him.

“Well, my hands might freeze off before we get home,” Iris said in a sadistic voice Arylos knew too well, awakening something in him that the cold had to pull back.

“Dammit, what did I get myself into?” Arylos said, giving in to the nature of his life on this cold forsaken planet.