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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 7, 2009 16:13:58 GMT -5
Aurelia watched as Aras went over to the bedroom, waving through piles of books and stuff on the floor, before coming back out with a neatly folded pair of pyjamas. Immediately she realized they were too big for her, but nodded anyways and went off to the washroom in which Aras had directed her to. When she got into the small space, she found that it was definitely cleaner and neater then the man's living room. The tiles were a nice, almost powdery blue colour and there was a glass door on the shower. It was brightly lit with a white light over the mirror and sink.
With a deep sigh, she shrugged off her trench coat, unwound her scarf and took off her hat. This was going to be so, so awkward. And if Reyes ever found out about it, there will be no ending the teasing that would be hurled at her. If her family back in Vietnam ever found out, she would need to warn Aras to not open any plain packages with no return address. Her father would kill her, most likely.
Aurelia began to pull her shirt over her head when she heard a bit of a bumping sound. Before she could react, the washroom door was suddenly pushed open. She didn't care who it was or even what it was, her talisman gave the reptilian equivalent of a shriek, which in turn caused her to yelp a little too loud "Holy Jesus freakin' Christ!". With a movement that couldn't be rivalled in speed, she had pulled her shirt back over her head and her hand flew to her belt, or more accurately, what was in her belt.
In one fluid movement, her much trusted machete was out of it's sheath and went flying across the room. Aurelia didn't care if it hit or missed whoever or whatever just opened the door, she just aimed in the general direction and let the blade fly.
Again, she left her caution out in the sun to bake, and she tackled whoever had swung open the door before twisting around and holding the person in a full nelson, taught to her the hard way courtesy of Reyes.
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Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 8, 2009 0:03:00 GMT -5
"Holy Jesus freakin' Christ!"
Aurelia's screech bounced off the tiles, resonating in his skull, loud enough to wake the entire building. It took a moment for Aras to realize what he'd done--and that was one moment too many.
"Shit, I'm sorr--" was as far as he got before a bladed something shot past his head and embedded itself into the far wall. He could almost swear it took off a few hairs; he was lucky that the knife hadn't taken off his ear in the process. Losing an ear may have seemed a good idea to Van Gogh, but Aras did not find it appealing in the slightest.
Before he had the chance to shut the door and spout several repeated apologies--he could not believe that he had just walked in on her like that, she must think him a pervert--Aurelia had barreled through the doorway. Clothed, thankfully. He wasn't thankful for long, however, because he suddenly found himself getting tackled by the smaller woman. Somehow, she managed to get behind him, and without giving him a chance to explain, she had locked his arms and neck in a full nelson.
Head pinned down, Aras struggled for breath. He thought he had been free of oxygen deprivation when he'd left Reyes and his lung-squeezing hugs behind, but Aurelia was apparently equally effective in that respect. His airway constricted, he figured he wouldn't be able to fully explain that he was not, in fact, a peeping Tom.
So he simply gasped a "sorry!" and hoped that Aurelia would let him go before he passed out from asphyxiation.
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 8, 2009 0:56:55 GMT -5
Aurelia was quick to orient herself once again, and only then did she realize that she was sitting on top of Aras, whom was in a full nelson headlock, as he tried to, what sounded like, apologize. "The hell? Aden!?" Or was it Arthur? Or Aras?
Whatever, after a few more seconds she released him from the suffocating headlock--she got the hint that he couldn't breathe--but did not get off of him. In fact, she would've been more then willing to just keep holding him until he passed out, but she was too nice to do that (haha). She took a glance around the room and quickly located where her machete had buried itself in the wall. Shit, wall damages too. she thought ruefully for a moment before turning her attention back to the man she was sitting on.
"What the hell was that?"Pervert... she wanted to add, but kept that part to herself. It was best to put it simply that Aurelia was not amused, nor was her talisman, who was now repeating 'I told you so's, and that she should've stayed at Reyes house. At this point, it didn't matter what he brought out of his oven or what sort of ungodly hours he kept her up until, it was certainly better then having a strange guy whom you've just met walk in on you. Why had she agreed to come to his house anyways?
With a slight huff she pulled her shirt the rest of the way down, crossed her arms over her chest and waited patiently for an answer. Because, goddammit, she wasn't getting off of the man until she received one, then she'd probably get the hell out of his house. Her thoughts showed pretty on her face, because her forked reptilian tongue was probably flicking from between her lips by now in irritation and she was glaring daggers into him.
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Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 8, 2009 1:32:01 GMT -5
Again, he didn't bother to correct Aurelia when she got his name wrong yet again. Now was definitely not a good time to pick at trivialities. There were far more important things to worry about: like breathing.
He gulped a fresh lungful of air (even if his face was still pretty much pressed to the floor) when she released her hold. Aurelia was still sitting on him, but at least this was better than when she was sitting on him and had him in a headlock. Even though he could somewhat breathe again, the vulture was still shrilling some obscenities in his head. Aras shushed his talisman--the name-calling wasn't exactly helping his situation--before turning to Aurelia as best as he could.
Despite the fact that he could only see her out of the corner of his eye, he could tell that she looked none too happy. Yup, she definitely thought he was a pervert. Terrific. Just what he needed: a blade-wielding woman who would gladly take off his ear, who thought he was a lech, staying in his apartment.
There was absolutely no way this was going to not sound awkward, so Aras gave up on trying to rephrase his explanation to sound right. "You dropped your pants," he said.
A pause. Then, realizing that that sounded even more wrong than he'd thought it would, pointed at the pajama trousers that lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. "I didn't think you'd started to change yet, so I tried to give them to you. I didn't mean to--ah, well, sorry."
He hoped it would suffice, because he wasn't sure how much more of a beating his ribcage could take tonight.
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 8, 2009 1:59:50 GMT -5
"You dropped your pants."
"What the hell?" Oh, she was none too happy about that. What did he mean by she dropped her pants? Last time she checked, she was still wearing pants. Without thinking, more or less her talisman telling her to do it, she raised her hand and was about to give him another scalding backhand slap, before he continued with;
"I didn't think you'd started to change yet, so I tried to give them to you. I didn't mean to--ah, well, sorry."
She let her arm fall to her side, her lips pressed into a thin line and debating whether to believe him or not. Her talisman was, once again, shrieking at her not to do it, but the more human side of her brain told her that it would be smart to keep from freezing to death. At last her human side won out and she rolled off Aras, ending up lying next to him instead and staring up at the ceiling with her arms behind her head like a pillow... Before a knock came from the door. Aurelia lifted her head a little as the man's voice came through the door.
"Quiet down, lovebirds!" he sounded plenty irritated. "Some of us are trying to sleep! We don't want our kids hearing how productive you two are in the middle of the night!"
"Well some of us are trying to get things done, but certain people keep interrupting!" Aurelia was pretty aggravated herself, and immediately shot that back and whoever was outside, giving Aras an accusing glance. It was only then that she gave herself a mental slap at how awkward that just sounded, and instead gave up. This had been one of the longest nights of her life, and she was finally defeated.
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Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 8, 2009 12:01:46 GMT -5
He had to suppress the instinct to cringe when Aurelia lifted her hand. Aras had just resigned himself to the fact that he'd have a matching bruise on the other cheek--after all, there was nothing he could do when she was sitting on him--when her hand dropped to her side. Scrutinizing him carefully, she seemed to be debating whether or not he was telling the truth.
She finally--finally--opted to believe him. The weight on his back was subsequently removed, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he sat up. Aurelia was now stretched out on the ground beside him, staring blankly at the ceiling. Aras looked away from her uncomfortably and shifted his gaze upward, as if he also found the bare white ceiling as fascinating as she did. They stayed like that for a while, neither willing to move or to break the silence, no matter how strained.
An aggravated voice thick with sleep interrupted, shouting at them to quiet down and--oh, for heaven's sake, was that what they thought to was going on? And try as he might, Aras found it was very, very hard to pretend he didn't recognize the voice. If Aurelia were paying attention, the fact that his ears had turned an interesting shade of red would have given him away. (At any rate, the next time he saw the Lorentzes and their grade-school children was going to be unspeakably awkward.)
He nearly slapped himself in the forehead at Aurelia's hasty response. Thankfully, the irate neighbor didn't stick around. Aras was left staring at the door for several moments before he turned back to Aurelia, who was fixing him with a rather poisonous glare.
With another defeated sigh, he got to his feet and held out the trousers to her, despite his talisman's insistence that they kick her out. Through the window, preferably. He paid the vulture no mind.
"Sorry," he repeated, checking the urge to mumble it over and over. That would more likely than not serve to rile her even further. "Just... lock the door this time." He was aware of how inane that sounded--Aurelia had doubtlessly promised herself to do that a long while ago--but he didn't particularly care right now. All he wanted to do was change into something that didn't smell of meat, and go to sleep.
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 8, 2009 17:55:30 GMT -5
She heard Aras sigh heavily beside her as he got back up to his feet and handed her the pyjama bottoms she had probably dropped on her way to the washroom. Nodding silently, she took then as he apologized once again and told her to lock the door next time. No, really? No shit? She almost rolled her eyes but held herself back, allowing her komodo to do that instead.
Aurelia went back into the washroom to pick up her coat, scarf and hat, along with the shirt Aras had given her, but didn't change. She was not--not--risking that again, no matter how many locks were on the door. Her back would hurt tomorrow, but it was okay, because she was sleeping in the clothes she was in.
She quickly picked out the corner of the house that was farthest as humanly possible from Aras' room and placed all her stuff in a pile there. Aurelia then arranged her clothes into a neat, nest-looking thing that she had practiced doing so many times out in the woods. She would probably switch over to her komodo when she slept, just in case anything else stupid happened.
Turning on her heels, she walked briskly over to the wall where her machete was buried. She must have thrown it pretty hard, because as she tried to remove the offending blade with one hand, it wouldn't shift. Using two hands and leaning back, the machete finally slid out of the wall, leaving a rather deep and long slice missing. With any luck, the blade didn't go all the way through to the neighbour's side of the wall, or else that would have been quite something to explain. Aurelia sat down in the little nest she made, her blade in her hands as she inspected it to make sure it hadn't been damaged. She took an occasional glance up at Aras, not sure if she was feeling threatened by him or that she should apologize profusely for nearly chopping his ear off and suffocating him.
Her talisman was still muttering quite a few choice words, but Aurelia quickly shushed him and told him that she still owed Aras very, very much. A coffee probably wouldn't repay it, but she'd figure that out. And maybe she'd be able to get Reyes to patch up his wall; he was quite the handyman with the right tools.
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Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 9, 2009 12:56:59 GMT -5
Aurelia at least didn't look ready to kill him right now. Look at the bright side, right? No, the bright side was not seeing her exit via the window, he reprimanded the vulture as it enthusiastically reiterated its earlier suggestion. Though how he was going to get any restful sleep knowing that a door would be the only thing between him and the woman's knife was beyond him.
When she returned to the washroom, Aras headed back to his room to change into some pajamas (which, thankfully, did not smell of meat). By the time he'd stepped back into the living room, Aurelia had arranged her clothing into a nest of sorts. She hadn't changed into the borrowed clothing, but he couldn't blame her for not wanting to take that risk again. He was probably better off that way as well, because if by some ungodly chance he managed to walk in on her again, chances were she would not hesitate to actually kill him.
Currently in the process of removing the blade--which he could now see was a machete--she was having little luck. Only when she grabbed the handle with both hands and put her weight into it did she finally manage to wrench it out of the wall. It left quite a gash. Aras winced inwardly; he'd have to get that repaired sometime. He didn't need any reminders of the time he nearly got his ear taken off for accidentally walking in on a partially-undressed woman who hadn't thought to lock the door.
Watching her settle into the neat little nest she'd made--clearly positioned to be as far away from his room as possible--Aras frowned slightly and disappeared for a minute or two. When he returned, he had a thick comforter and a couple of extra blankets draped over his arm. If she insisted on sleeping on the floor, she might as well be warm. (Then maybe she'd be less inclined to use that machete on him again.)
He placed the blanket near her nest and walked back to his room. Pausing at the door, he turned around with an awkward "Good night." Aras shut the door, crawled into bed and was asleep in an instant.
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 9, 2009 14:40:40 GMT -5
Aras had disappeared for a minute or two, and Aurelia dropped her eyes back to her blade, running a finger along the edge to make sure it didn't blunt out upon impact. She didn't notice he had reappeared again until she heard the slight 'thud' of something hitting the ground. When she looked back up, there was a small pile of blankets and what looked like a comforter laying next to her nest. Being wary, she reached out and poked at it with her machete a few times just in case something would jump out at her. Aras had already gone to his bedroom door, and with an awkward "Good night", he disappeared behind the door, closing it behind him. Aurelia, in reply, stared blankly at the white door for a few more minutes before waving at it slightly; a delayed response, but a response none the less. She took the extra quilt and blankets and quickly made a neat arrangement of them in her nest. The night was finally wearing her thin, so she finally slipped into her komodo form, slunk under the sheets and drifted off without delay. ~*~*~*~*~ The morning headache was killer, even if she had absolutely no alcohol within the past six months. It was probably just because of how tired she had been before she went to sleep last night, so when a frazzled and irritated komodo dragon slid out from the pile of blankets and various clothing items, it was safe to say that nobody would be too happy. Phasing back into human form, she wandered to the washroom and quickly rinsed off her face, brushing her teeth off as best she could with water and her fingers. Finger-combing her hair and tying it back into a low ponytail, she stepped back out into the living room and surveyed her surroundings. She caught a glance of the wall-clock in the mirror and nearly slumped back down into her little nest again. What was she doing up at 6 in the morning? After all that had happened last night, she should've been in bed till noon. Aurelia was about to go back to bed until she saw that gash on the wall left by her machete. Oh yes, she thought with a quiet groan. I owe him the equivalent of my first child. With a deep, defeated sigh, she figured she might as well start early and begin to pay him back. Being well rehearsed in the art of being a perfect wife, according to Vietnamese tradition, began to clean. Back to the living room, she picked up all the books she could find--even the one on top of the fridge--and started arranging them neatly on the bookshelf with the spines facing out. Back to the floor, Aurelia picked up all the newspapers and folded them carefully before placing them all in a stack on the coffee table next to the reading glasses, cleaning up her sleeping nest right afterwards. She continued to tidy up the space, even going as far as scrubbing parts of the floor that looked dirty, until the apartment was nearly completely spotless--save for the gash in the wall that glared at her. Tough rummaging through his drawers and refrigerator might not have been the best of ideas, she quickly found some of the items she needed. Clearing off the cluttered kitchen counter, she placed a pan on the stove, heated the toaster and sifted through the cupboards to find some type of cup with holes in it to use as a makeshift Vietnamese coffee filter. Multi-tasking time, she began to fry some eggs and bacon, get some toast going and grabbed some regular coffee filters instead. While the foodstuffs were cooking, she found his coffee, noting it wasn't the right kind to make proper Vietnamese coffee, and decided to try it anyways. A few burns on her fingers later, she had made a mug of coffee by squeezing hot water and course-ground coffee, using her hands as a makeshift Vietnamese coffee filter (they're made of metal for a reason). Placing it all on a plate and putting it neatly on the kitchen table with a folded napkin, she then turned back to the kitchen and cleared up the clutter on the counters. By the time the house was done being scrubbed down and there was hot breakfast on the table for Aras, it was already about eight. After that, she then remembered why she hated playing housewife in Vietnam and decided against doing that here as well. A deep sigh and she sat down on the couch next to the window, staring absently out into space as if she hadn't just done all that for a man she barely knew.
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Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 10, 2009 7:12:58 GMT -5
The vulture gave him a sharp peck. Wake up.
It was too early. Considering the events of the night before and the miserable hour at which he finally went to sleep, he was entitled to stay in bed until at least noon. Aras grumbled something indistinct, though obviously none too polite, and tried to go back to sleep.
The vulture jabbed him again. There is a machete-wielding woman in your apartment. Now get up. Another series of jabs to accentuate its point. The sensation could be compared to a throbbing headache, except it felt more like someone was driving several metal spikes into his skull.
"All right, all right!"
He stumbled out of bed, wanting very much to ask Aurelia to backhand his talisman's smug look off its face. If it had any concern at all for his sanity and well-being, it would let him sleep. Not that preserving his sanity or his well-being seemed particularly high on its list of priorities, judging by how it had sat back and cackled the entire time he'd been at Reyes' house. Some guardian it was.
On a brighter note, his digestive system still seemed to be intact, despite having had to process the Japanese man's so-called cookies. A bag of which still sat innocuously on Aras' coffee table, and another in the kitchen. But he would leave off thinking about those until he'd at least gotten some caffeine into his system.
After changing into something vaguely presentable (the topmost criterion being that it did not smell of meat, which it did not), he stepped out of his room, still bleary-eyed from sleep. Something was different. It took another few seconds of befuddled staring before he realized what was wrong.
His apartment hadn't been this clean since... well, ever. It was, in a word, spotless. All the books--even the one on top of the refrigerator--had been cleared away, returned to their proper place on the shelves. The newspapers, which had been haphazardly draped over various surfaces, were now arranged in a compact stack by the coffee table. A lot more of the floor was visible now, and even that looked cleaner than before. The 'nest' in the corner was gone as well, the borrowed blankets having been re-folded and placed in a neat pile on the couch.
Despite his own confusion, it was also very satisfying to see the vulture, smugness wiped off its face, completely nonplussed by the change in scenery. How were they supposed to find anything now? its expression seemed to ask.
On top of it all, a hot breakfast, complete with a mug of coffee, was waiting on the kitchen table. (He must really have been tired to not have heard her at work this morning.) When he caught the scent of the bacon and eggs and toast, his stomach grumbled; apparently, Reyes' baking had not yet managed to ruin his appetite.
He gaped for a little while longer before he spied Aurelia on the couch. "Wh--you didn't hav--but--ah, I mean--" He gave up on any notion of eloquence he might have, until then, thought possible. "Thank you," he said finally, wondering whatever might have possessed her to do all this for him when she'd been more than happy to put him in a headlock just a few hours earlier. Maybe this was her version of an apology. "You really didn't have to."
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 10, 2009 13:01:44 GMT -5
Aurelia's talisman whipped his head around, thinking he had heard something. She, on the other hand, did not, so she proceeded to stare out the window as if the sidewalk outside was the most interesting thing in the world. There was a pause, then her talisman began to snap at her, which felt as if it were clawing at the insides of her head. She ignored it pretty well for the next few seconds, but then it grew too much and she finally complied, turning her head just in time to see Aras emerge from his room.
He was wearing a simple t-shirt and sweatpants, and the siege of snarky comments began from her komodo. Wifebeater... Her komodo talisman smirked, and she would've slapped it if she could. Instead, she just mumbled a 'whatever' and ignored him. Aras didn't seem the kind of guy who would beat his wife anyhow. A pervert, sure, but not a wife beater.
Aras, on the other hand, seemed stunned for a moment, taking in her cleaning job; the spotless floor, the books back in the shelves, the newspapers stacked, et cetera. His digestive tract must have still been working after the insanity with the sunshine-boy Reyes, because she heard his stomach give off a bit of a growl. Aurelia almost smiled at that. Almost.
"Wh--you didn't hav--but--ah, I mean--" Aras finally seemed to notice her sitting on the couch. After a bit more stuttering, he finally uttered a "Thank you," followed by, "You really didn't have to."
"I owe you anyways," Aurelia brushed it off, poking at the recently acquired burns on her fingers from the coffee making. The coffee probably didn't taste like it should anyways, but she tried and failed and that was what mattered... Except the failing part, but still. "Now go and eat before it cools."
You sound like a mother, her talisman huffed, which earned him a mental glare. That was followed up by an; I don't like him. She knit her eyebrows together, annoyed at her talisman's consistent nagging. She was pretty sure that she was old enough to start making her own decisions in life, but her talisman kept telling her that her parents had put it up to him to take care of her and all that.
Aurelia tuned out her talisman's harassing the best she could. But then again, her komodo was in her head, so that was hard to ignore.
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Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 10, 2009 18:05:52 GMT -5
Aurelia brushed aside his thanks nonchalantly, a bit distracted as she examined something on her fingertips. "Now go and eat before it cools."
Aras had to smile. It had been a while since someone had cooked for him, and the way she'd said that reminded him of his mother. Except it was a lot quieter and didn't involve anyone hollering about how he was going to waste daylight if he stayed in bed any longer. He never thought he'd miss that, but he did, at times. Now seemed to be one of those times.
Unsurprisingly, the vulture had to ruin the moment. The way it looked at the plate, it was as if it held several helpings of rat poison instead of bacon and eggs. She could have drugged it, his talisman warned, gaze traveling suspiciously from the woman on the couch to the meal she'd prepared. Aras held back the urge to roll his eyes; Aurelia might take that the wrong way. His talisman had apparently had no qualms about prodding him to take a bite of Reyes' baking. Besides, if Aurelia was that eager to kill him, she had deftly proven the night before that she could have easily done so without having to go through the trouble of cooking and cleaning just to slip some poison into his coffee.
So despite the vulture's ear- and mindsplitting protests, he sat down and ate. Halfway around a bite of egg, he noticed that Aurelia had not moved from her spot on the couch, nor had she set anything out for herself. "'ve you eaten already?"
Who cares? Now ask her if she would kindly remove herself from--
Despite years of practice, Aras still hadn't quite gotten the hang of tuning out his talisman's nagging. For one reason or another, it seemed unusually persistent today, directing the majority of its vehemence at Aurelia.
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 10, 2009 19:03:30 GMT -5
Aurelia watched as Aras sat down and began eating the food she had made. Good, he better have started to eat, or else she would probably give him another backhand and forced the food down his throat. She did not just do all that work for nothing. "'ve you eaten already?" She looked up to see him about to put a bit of egg into his mouth.
Why would he care? Shut up. Her komodo huffed grumpily at her response and started to badger at her about how disrespectful she was being and having attitude towards somebody that was supposed to have authority over her. It was all the same. It was odd though, her komodo never seemed to have a problem with Reyes, so why would he have a problem with Aras?
Oh yes, her talisman scoffed. Because he's a pervert! I bet he took pictures of you while you were sleeping.
Aurelia nearly yelled at him to shut up out loud, but quickly caught herself. Instead, she opted to just answer his question. "Me? No, I haven't had anything yet." Which provoked some more snide comments from her talisman, whom told her to just eat his arm or something and call it even.
"If it makes you feel any better," Aurelia got up and crossed the room to the kitchen table where he was sitting, taking a seat across from him. She folded her arms on the clean wooden top and continued; "I'll just watch you eat." So that's exactly what she did. She sat there across from him and watched him while he ate his eggs and bacon and toast and watched him as he drank his coffee.
Her talisman glared at him the whole time as well, obvious that Aras hadn't landed on the large lizard's 'acceptable' list. Why Reyes was on that acceptable list was beyond her; the Japanese man was certainly more dangerous then Aras could ever be. But her talisman had it already deeply ingrained in his head that he was a pervert, so that probably didn't help matters.
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Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 10, 2009 21:56:42 GMT -5
((OOC: A slight auto, with Dark's permission.))
It was odd--Aurelia had looked ready to say something, but had stopped herself and calmly answered his question. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll just watch you eat." Well, no, it wouldn't really make him feel any better, but if she insisted...
And insist she did, taking the seat across from him and watching him finish his breakfast. You can't say that's not creepy, the vulture groused. Admittedly, it was a bit unnerving, but he merely directed an inward shrug at his talisman. He did it mostly to get on the the spirit's nerves, in the hope that it would shut up. The tactic worked--for the moment, at least. The vulture ruffled its feathers in exasperation.
"Are you sure you're not hungry?" Aras asked as he finished the last of his coffee.
"Yeah, I'm sure." She stood. "I think I've bothered you enough. I'm heading out, and you seriously don't have to walk me this time. Next time I see you, it'll be over a coffee, I think. Or at Reyes' house, either or."
A glance at the impeccably tidy living room and the few crumbs of toast remaining on the plate, and he gave a short chuckle. "I don't think you owe me that coffee anymore." And he wasn't heading over to Reyes' house for a long while yet; his sanity needed some time to recover. He and Aurelia probably weren't going to see each other again too soon, and Aras didn't know whether to consider that a good or bad thing. (The vulture thought the latter, of course, but he continued to ignore it.)
Speaking of Reyes... If Aurelia thought she was leaving without taking Reyes' kitchen experiment along, she was sadly mistaken. "Don't forget your cookies," he added, handing one of the brown bags to Aurelia with a roguish smile.
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 10, 2009 22:56:27 GMT -5
"I don't think you owe me that coffee anymore." Aras gave a bit of a chuckle as his gaze swept across the tidied up living room and at his polished off plate. Aurelia actually felt a slight twinge of annoyance upon seeing his empty plate, but quickly dismissed it and said nothing. Being a woman of tradition, Aurelia and her komodo both knew that eating everything off a plate was rude and almost like telling your host or cook that they're poor and didn't have enough food to feed their guests. But that was in Vietnam, and this was Canada, so she dismissed it. Her komodo did anything but dismiss it and began to grumble about it.
"Oh, but I do," She placed her hat on her head and wound her scarf around her neck, but draped her jacket over her shoulder. She was sure she wouldn't need it now, it was certainly warmer then last night. Aurelia's answer was much to the infuriation of her talisman. I highly, highly doubt you should give him anything. Highly. The komodo grumbled.
When Aras handed her the brown paper bag filled with forthcoming doom, a playful smile across his lips, she couldn't help but smile back the tiniest bit this time. Yeah, sure, she'd probably use them in her next campfire or something. Or maybe not, she had no idea whether they were going to explode when stuck into the fire.
"Thanks. I'll have Reyes come over here sometime to fix that hole in the wall. He's quite the handyman." She was only half joking; Reyes really was quite the handyman. He had built most of the furniture in his own house, she didn't know why he couldn't fix a wall.
Turning, she opened the door, stepped out and nearly fell on her face. A young boy and girl, maybe 5 at the most, came running down the hall just as she stepped out from the threshold and nearly tripped her. Thankfully she braced herself against the far wall and avoided the early-morning faceplant, which would have not sat well with her or her spirit.
"My goodness, come back here, Ryan and Julie! Why, good morni..." Aurelia looked up to see a woman that was about to bid her a good morning, but had trailed off instead. A man was standing behind her, holding two backpacks, probably on their way to bring their kids to school.
"Mornin'," The man didn't look too happy. "Slept well last night?"
Oh. Crap. It was him; the man who had come knocking at Aras' door last night to tell them to quiet down. She immediately recognized his voice, even if it was no longer heavy with sleep and irritation. That smile from before quickly disappeared from her features, replaced by an embarrassed blush to her cheeks. She gave them a nod, a simple "Morning...", turned on her heels to face Aras and said a simple "Bye." and was down the hallway in an instant.
Aurelia took the stairs instead of the elevator down to the main lobby, then onto the street. She didn't look behind her to see if Aras had followed--he probably didn't anyways--and wandered towards the woods to fetch her bag to get a clean set of clothes. The embarrassment lingered in the back of her mind, that blush still stained her cheeks.
Bright side: at least it was warm.
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