#arkhelios

Izzy jumped down from the couch as if she'd heard him.

Zane allowed himself to sink into the nearest couch. I'm imaginning things, he thought. Pia would never want a loser like me when she can have Thomas. A man who can go outside without having an anxiety attack. A man who is an actual lawyer instead of an unemployed grilled cheese-obsessed couch potato.

One of the cats, Izzy, jumped up next to him in the couch, giving him a smug look, as if participating in the mockery in his inner monologue.

Her tone was enough. Pia didn't even notice her transformation until she saw Adriel roll her eyes at her.

"Switch to demon form already, I don't have all day," Adriel complained, admiring her freshly manicured nails as she waited for Pia to transform.

Pia clenched her fists and tried to focus on how obnoxious the woman in front of her was. They'd been training wrath demon anger management for over a week now, and Pia was convinced Adriel was deliberately attempting to sabotage her efforts. "Isn't it a good sign that I'm struggling to get angry?" Pia asked.

Still, Claudia had been hearing alarm bells ringing in her head since getting back together with Roman.

He was grateful for her help, he constantly said so. Though the reassurances he gave her didn't move much beyond that. Claudia was starting to fear that she might be more interested in maintaining the relationship than he was.

Worst part was, she couldn't bring herself to be angry at him, even if he was indeed cynically and intentionally using her in order to get help with the children and have someone to hold close at night while managing his grief. She understood. As much as she hated to admit it, she might have done the same in his position.

The children were easy to manage, they weren't a problem. Ulyssa, however, kept shooting glares at Claudia, which made her strongly question how "kind of poly" their relationship was, as Roman had labeled it. Truthfully, Claudia didn't really want a non-monogamous relationship, but Ulyssa was cute. If her grief wasn't making her so off-putting at the moment, perhaps Ulyssa could have been good friends with her. Or more. She'd seen the punk rock band posters on Ulyssa's wall. She liked several of those bands. They could go to a concert together! Sure, no bands came to Arkhelios due to the lack of cultural... well... anything, but there were planes and boats and ways to travel to another country for a concert. If Claudia was going to try out alternate relationship styles, then she could picture herself attempting some sort of throuple. Though not with someone who had no interest in getting to know her or even making an attempt.

She couldn't bring herself to be truly angry with her either, though. Ulyssa had very recently lost her girlfriend. Romance must be the last thing on her mind.

Claudia sighed, sitting down in front of the hot plate of spaghetti. She recognized that she was essentially erasing her own wants and desires in the situation for Roman's happiness. Though she also couldn't bring herself to leave him all alone with Ulyssa and the kids in their time of need.

Valerie was first to embrace Roman in a hug. Martha took some more time to stand by, giving her father suspicious glances, then eventually hugged him as well.

"Thanks for watching them, Claudia," Roman said. "Ulyssa appreciates it too, even if she can't show it."

"I'm sure she does," Claudia said, though she had her doubts. Ulyssa seemed completely incapable of seeing anything other than her grief. Jocelyn spent most of her time sleeping, and, the few times she saw her mother, she seemed confused and sad. "Do you need anything? I made food." She gestured toward the kitchen. "I made spaghetti con vongole!"

"I'll have some later," Roman said. "I'll just... Spend some time with the girls first."