he sighs, lets his hair fall back over his shoulder, and slips the hair tie onto his wrist.

the door is open when he arrives and Titus pushes it open softly, greeted with the smell of freshly baked cookies. it's a comforting smell, one he's grown used to experiencing at her house. sometimes, if he focused really hard, he could smell it out in the hallways between their condos. it was a particular form of torture, to smell the fruits of her stress baking while knowing that he caused her that stress.

It's exhausting.

All she wants to do is check up on him and make sure he's taking care of himself. Yet every time she pauses outside his door, she remembers the way she'd felt, last time she'd spoken to him, and how much it hurt- but she also knows he couldn't have known what would set her off. How that in particular would bother her immensely.

"It ain't..." A sigh, slow and anxious as she turns the cookie in her hand between her fingers. "It's not... your fault. Well, sorta, but not really, either. I know y' probably didn't mean anythin' by it. It's not th' kinda person you are. I just..."

She hops up on the counter, and pats the space next to her.

send 🔤🖋 to vespy-fy your muse’s name || not accepting !

FANTASIA! ( not accepting! )

a hyur woman of great potential, a beacon of light for those in the dark. misfortune followed like a plague; steady and sparse at first, but it grew along with her. a shadow loomed over her fate for too long until the world itself offered its aid: until She reached out. a gift -- a blessing -- of light for one in need of it, offering a means of combating the darkness that slowly wished to consume her.

perhaps such a gift was too sudden, or too much, as it left its mark upon ari's person in the form of white streaks throughout her hair. when the shadows are deep, much light is needed to banish them, after all.

with this newfound blessing, however, she began a journey to better equip herself for the battles ahead, gradually making a name for herself in the process. like a holy judge of the worlds evils, a beacon of hope for many. some might even deem to call her their "warrior of light".

"No one told you where to go."

"My, my, those eyes like fire."

"I'm a winged insect, you're a funeral pyre."

"I'm a waking hell and the gods grow tired."

"Grow back your sharpest teeth you know my desire."

"Well, yeah, I spit blood when I wake up."

"I'll take a pound of your flesh before you take a piece of my paystub."

"I need you to see me for what I have become."

"No amount of love will keep it around if we don't choose it."

"Don't you know I could see it in you even then?"

"Are you really okay?"

"I want to help you but I don't know how."

"I don't believe you when you tell me are fine."

"You want someone to be your reflection, you bitter deception."

"Who made you like this?"

"Won't you come and dance in the dark with me?"

"Show me what you are, I am desperate to know."

"'Cause anything's better than the way I feel right now."

"Is there something you give, that you will never receive in return?"

"Do you wish that you loved me?"

"Can you ever forgive yourself?"

"There's something eating me alive, I don't know what it is."

"Do you ever believe that we can turn into different people."

"You've got my body, flesh and bone."

"Take me past the edge."

"I want to see the other side."

"My love, did I mistake you for a sign from God?"

"I'd be lying if I told you that I didn't wish that I could be your man."

"When we were made it was no accident."

"You've got me in a chokehold."

"My love is an animal call, cutting through the darkness, bouncing off the walls."

"Putting down the roses, picking up the sword."

"Between the pain and the way you look, I'm stuck in a time where the mountains shook."

Hanabi's muscles tense and she can feel herself getting hotter and hotter from extreme embarrassment when she hears the lady's voice.

"Aha! YEAH--I MEAN NO! It's TOTES MY GOATS, not your fault!" Yes, Totes her goats. She doesn't want to embarrass herself even further so she works quickly YET carefully to start cleaning up the mess.

"I'm sure too! U-Uhm, I'm just being a little too hard on myself. Y'know?" Wait, maybe she shouldn't have said that? Maybe she should...LAUGH? "Eh...heeehh.."

She retrieves a bucket and plenty of paper towels and towels to clean the mess. The canvas will be taken care of lastly. She has to clean off the paint.

"Uh... I guess?" She manages to mutter after a moment, almost smiling somewhat awkwardly, though she doesn't quite do it. It's probably better that she didn't.

"Ohhhh. That's kinda a whole different thing, ain't it? Bein' your boss an' all. But if he's that nice though, then y' don't really gotta worry, do ya?"

"It's comforting to know that I have allies to rely on here, sure. Though, it's a bit too domestic here for that kind of support." Business as always...He's going to have to learn friendship here.

Right, though, they were at a party!

Smiling slightly at his thoughtfulness, she shakes her head.

she doesn't seem to realize just yet that he's teasing her, which just makes this conversation that much more fun for the assassin.

"Is that so? A shame, then." he wouldn't have been opposed if she had planned on it. (not that anything would have happened)

but right, yes, introductions.

Of course, he keeps going, and she makes another sputtering noise.

"Listen, you're real pretty, mister Zev, but uh..."

Well, she can't actually find a reason why she wouldn't otherwise. There aren't any pretty elf men where she's from- it might be... interesting. So she sighs and shrugs.

DAMN. ROCK solid head and he's not thinking about her own. His head is fine. Maybe he sees a little bit of stars, but that's as far as his discomfort goes.

Retracting her hand with a pursing of her lips, Ari watches him for a moment, then sighs. Honestly, people in this place...

"Oh thanks, haha. It wasn't a big deal though."

"I don't really bake but I can uh, cook you something nice in exchange!"

There were desserts like that too, right? Anyways, he wasn't about to owe a debt even if the gift was something minor.

At the offer to pay her pack, Ari tilts her head in visible (and audible, given her soft 'huh?') confusion.

"Why would ya need t' gimme somethin' in exchange? It's a thanks for helpin' me out. That's like... thankin' me for thankin' ya, an' if we do that, we'll be goin' in circles 'bout it til th' cows come home." If she could, she'd wave her hand, but she can't so she just gives her head a little sideways tilt, dismissive.

It's not a term he's ever thought to apply to himself, nor something anyone had mentioned; sure, he knows of it—who doesn't? but angels didn't get that.

angels also don't get boyfriends and pets and, he thinks unbidden, and Gabriel's not sure if it's a good point or if he should be fucking disgusted by himself. Maybe both. He can't really think more about this without his brain going kind of fuzzy.

Her anxiety seems to calm slightly head turning away.

"It wasn't always all bad, was it? An' it's usually not... th' religion so much as what y' get put through for it. What other people try an' tell ya it is. What it should mean an' how y' should do it an' all. So recontextualizin'... can help. I think. Or at least make it a lil' easier t' handle." A pause, another tiny, faint frown as she looks down at her hands.

" He drags me too forced therapy sessions even though he though he keeps repeating I'm 'hopeless case' or whatever. Total wash."

Probably wants to keep tabs on Klaus through him somehow. Eiden doesn't really know but he can tell he's not really doing his job on those sessions.

" Your guess is as good as mine haha... I don't know about the full picture really either but the bastard's as emotionally inept as you might think... I think the dating part's a total foreign ground for him. I mean... he doesn't even call it that and all. "

Poor Klaus. It wouldn't hurt for him to be even a little more demanding.

Ari makes another face then, and she looks into the distance, leaning her chin on her hand.

it had been a week.

and some change, perhaps. he's never been good at keeping track of the passing of time when there was something upsetting him. Titus had mostly been okay, living life as usual (perhaps a little more reckless than normal?), but avoiding his apartment unless he absolutely needed something from it. he had to pass by Ari's door to get to his and every time he would pass by he would see a flash of her hurt expression, enough to make him turn on his heel and go elsewhere.

there were other places he could go.

but, he was back home now, laying in bed and staring at the wall, wondering if Ari was doing the same thing. he thought of them both huddled together during the blizzard and sighed.

"You're a real fuckin' idiot, Titus," he admonishes himself softly before reaching out to tap on the wall a few times. the walls were not thick, which was not always a blessing, but he was using it to his advantage this time.

When the knock comes, the guitar in her hands almost tumbles right out. She'd almost forgotten how thin the walls can be since Titus has hardly been as... active as usual, and the sound of his voice following is a surprise too. For a few long moments, she stares down at her hands, going over the issue in her head. Her frustrations, at the time, had been for a lot of reasons, but most of them weren't directly Titus's fault. A combination of bad experiences, bad timing and someone who clearly didn't take things too seriously had simply collided in the worst way.

And she, she'll admit, had bit kind of a dick about it.

"...yeah," she says, raising her voice just a bit toward the end, to make sure he can actually hear. "Come on over. I'll get th' door."

Carefully setting her guitar aside, she stands and makes for the door, unlocking it and leaving it cracked. Then she heads for the kitchen, where she grabs a container of cookies and pops it open.