#quick paced

Star popped into the universe of The Magnus Archives, far after the 2 years she had originally come here. Of course, she visited after having done everything she needed to, and felt satisfied enough about it.

She appeared in the Institute, walking over to the Archives hoping to find Jon, Martin, or someone. She needed a hug, or a listening ear, desperately. Although she wouldn't admit that, ever.

It's been such a long time since she'd been here, at least a few months. The statements looked far more organized, seeming as though Uzi had visited far more than her for that outcome. Things weren't as she remembered them, at least not exactly. Some furniture was moved.

"Uhm..."

Seeing as the Archives were practically empty, she broke the silence.

"Anyone here? It's me again."

Some shuffling was heard, coming from one of the bookcases as if someone was rearranging papers just a moment ago. But they stopped and walked over.

It was Jon. Of course it was.

She gave a little bit of a shy wave.

"Oh, Star! Been a while since we last talked, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, I suppose it has. Umm......how have things been going? After the whole... the-world-almost-ended-but-we-managed-to-stop-it-thing?"

"As normal, actually. As if nothing happened."

"Oh! That's...good? And how's Martin?"

Jon's face almost lit up at the mention of him.

"He's doing well too!"

"Great to hear." :)

Star took her bag off, held it up by the straps, and pulled out some photocopies of her poems.

"I...started writing poetry! I brought some poems with me, in case you, or Martin, wanted to read them. You can show them to the others if you'd like."

She handed the papers to Jon, and he, in turn, placed them on a nearby table.

"Oh? You, writing poetry? How come?"

"Well...someone came into my life, helped me get back to the light after almost 2 years of darkness."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"Just a little someone called Apollo."

She smiled.

"Apollo?" The Archivist looked nothing short of surprised. "Like, the god?"

She nodded, which made him whistle.

"Wow. How lucky must someone be to be able to meet a god..."

"Anyway, enough about that. I uh..."

Her mask slipped little by little, and Jon noticed that something was wrong, not quite right.

They locked eyes for a moment.

And, then, without warning, Star hugged him. He froze for a second, but adjusted quickly, in turn wrapping his arms around her.

"What happened, Star?"

"I just...I don't know. Things haven't been going the greatest," she admitted. "I know just a second ago I had been acting, y'know, cheerful, but that was an act."

"I was almost sure of it, actually. You can't exactly fool me."

"I know." (pun not intended)

She buried her face in his shoulder, hugging him tighter. Finally, some comfort at last. He, almost on instinct from the several times this has happened before, started trailing his fingers up and down her back, in comforting motions. That. That was exactly what she needed. She melted.

"Can we stay like this for a little while?" she mumbled.