#hidiingplace

truthfully, she isn’t quite sure what’d happened.

they’d been having a good time out and about in the city, in spite of the chill that’d settled over everything. there’s something about winter that makes everything feel just a touch more magical, like something good can happen at any time. and everything had been good through brunch and shopping and a shaky attempt at ice skating that’d resulted in laughs and more than a few bruises.

then someone had approached him at the hot chocolate vendor in an exchange of terse words. at least from what she could tell. being some distance away, pasha hadn’t managed to get a good look at them as they’d before they’d disappeared into the snow and the crowds, and she certainly hadn’t heard anything. but daeton’s mood had turned sour when he’d come back, icier than the flakes of snow that’d swirled down from above. she’d been trying to lighten the mood ever since, or at least get him to talk to her. all attempts had failed.

pasha busies herself with removing her winter wear, keeping daeton in her periphery. even under his coat, she can see he’s tense, maybe even rattled. but she can’t quite catch the shape of what’s bothering him.

before shifting across the room, pasha moves in next to him, letting him pretend to read for a second longer before settling a hand on his, stopping another furious turn of the page.

“hey, talk to me. please?” her eyes search his face and see a maelstrom of anger. “i can’t help if i don’t know what’s going on.”

It had been a liftetime since Idalis had been in contact with one of the Aknei, and while many might say such a thing as an exaggeration ... Idalis, on the other hand, could say it quite literally. Not once in her travels since being reborn had she come across another, leading her to believe that much like her own people, they had died off. 

Imagine her surprise when one of the Aknei had come to heal her son. 

Admittedly the man wasn’t like the Aknei of old that she had grown to trust and depend upon when Abdiel had been alive ... and it certainly drew up memories both good and bad for some time after. Eventually, however, what it led to was Idalis deciding something that she was certain her oldest wouldn’t agree upon, slipping from the apartment with a simple note left that read: ‘I’ll be back shortly’. 

Serendipity is a strange force, whether it be in her favour or not, multiple events that should be outside of the realm of possibility often find her. It's been long accepted that she is a magnet for the unusual or strange, or those who are clearly lost, but this probably has to be the cherry on top. It's not often that somebody would literally fall right into her arms.

His shadow precedes his arrival, silhouette growing on the pavement and giving her a split second to act. Instinctively, and impulsively, the woman throws her arms out in front of her, stopping the man's descent abruptly. Her knees buckle slightly to cushion the impact of his fall, moving along with the force of gravity until it's ensured that she caught him. His heft doesn't trouble her, as she effortlessly readjusts her grip on him and now cradles him like an infant.

Her eyes meet his with a blank expression, until the slow, creeping realization that she literally caught some guy in her arms and managed to save him from certain death. Had she been a fraction of a second to late, he would have been splattered all over the sidewalk and on her, too.

She blinks slowly, now having fully processed the depth of her actions and fumbling over the possible repercussions of her intervention. Her nonplussed visage morphs into one of shock, likely matching her rescuee's expression.

❝Uh...❞ She sputters out, unable to say anything intelligent at the moment, ❝Whaaaaaaat?❞

“U-Uhm. Excuse me, sir?” 

Oh, he absolutely hates doing this. Daeton was intimidating enough of a person as is, but the stories that he had been told put him on another level? Not that he was dangerous per se, (maybe he was, but not to Forrest), but rather, that he was just... cool. That wasn’t the right word for it, Forrest could go on and on about the stories he’d been told. 

Scarlet is incapable of looking into his words and finding a silver lining, only finding reason to become further offended as he speaks. She would never admit it in so many words, but in her own way Scarlet is sensitive – although uncaring when it comes to the sensitivity of others, she wants the rare people that she likes to care about her. 

To be fair, he has every reason to be calling her those things. Her nose is bloody, most likely broken, eye black, all because she had decided to pick a fight with the wrong person. The fire and ice in her body seem to be fighting one another, condensation her skin as if she’s a glass of ice water in the middle of summer, melting ice dripping down her face as if they’re tears.