NagafenOfIlivikitty

‘Well…’ An absent glance comes from Carrie’s eyes and she hesitates to say it… but she opens her lips to answer, worried of what this will sound like to him, of what look he’ll give her… and why does that matter so much. ‘I want-‘ --- --- The next day is troubling. Obelia has been by Ken’s side through the night, her expression a constant, blank glare, not letting her gaze falter from the darkened corners, the broken window. She refuses to sleep, even when her body tries to make her, eyes half lidded and shoulders slipping on occasion. The next day comes and with it, Obelia’s bleary gaze turns to Ken as the news of a message for him comes through, studying his features as he sleeps, a quiet moment taken. Why does anyone want to kill one who even when asleep, seems so peaceful? She shivers and stays by him, awaiting his awakening before they collect the message. --- ‘Can’t or won’t?’ Noel looks over Andy, smiling a bit. And then says something she didn’t expect herself to. ‘I like you too. But you’re a smart guy, you know that. I mean, who broods on a porch when they have nothing to brood about? And considering most of the time we travelled here, you were happy… yeah. I guessed. I like you, Andy. But she does too.’ She rubs her head and smiles, as if paining herself to say it. ‘I’m not saying it’s love or anything. This is all a bit sudden to go saying that. But… it’s something, that’s the point I guess. And… with all Noel’s lived through around me… I owe her something. I owe her this.’ She leans across, a very soft kiss planting on Andy’s cheek. She looks to him though and ruffles his hair, murmuring. ‘I’ll try and play big sister to you. If you’ll let me… so you and Noel… well… let’s just say if you didn’t feel anything either, you wouldn’t be out here in the first place, but at the high hills by now.’ --- --- ‘Too early? Am I too early… Maybe. It’s morning. Isn’t it? I need to keep track of time.’ Zwool’s mutterings continue as he walks from the inn he has been resting within to the front door of Ellandra’s again. He is shaky but clutches something, a large bouquet of gentle white roses, sold at a… reasonable amount from a rather toothy flower salesman. He smiles and looks at them, at the rather curved white petals. They remind him of her. Is he buying these for himself or her? He shakes his head, rubbing it too to steady his focus. And he smiles, seeing that door again. Change. That’s what he wants to do. So he lightly knocks on the door, realising his cheeks grow ever more red as time goes on. --- ‘….Uh?’ Carrie’s eyes flick open once or twice, closing due to a light bleeding into her iris. She rubs her lids and sighs as the palm of her hand stays in one eye, opening the other. Turning her head ever so slightly. Finding her arm wrapped around Horatio’s sleeping torso. Well, she wonders lazily. I do work fast. And then, without batting an eyelid, or just one eyelid in this case, she moves her head, pushes it against Horatio’s chest and closes her eyes again, content to just lay there.

‘Andy.’ It’s a simple call of his name, but for some reason however light it may sound; to Langley it is strained, forced through a smile. She finds him on the step and wants to giggle, seeing him look like a rather typically brooding teen. Yet she just smiles, boots echoing against the wood of the porch while she exhales slightly, slumping quietly to the porch next to him. She folds her arms across her legs but doesn’t look at him a moment, not quite finding the heart to, just smiling away. ‘Do you like Noel? As in, like-like?’ --- ‘Well, we’ll see. I can make things last. This whole journey is lasting longer then I thought it would.’ She remarks on her trip with a casual tone but some genuine surprise echoes in her head. She hasn’t run away back home, crying. That’s what she feels is the most uplifting feeling; bring a tiny smile to her features as well. She does blink at his answer but chuckles, nodding once as she happily nibbles on another piece, keeping her eating slightly slower so if he changed his mind, she didn’t feel like she’d cheated him of anything.

‘Allow me to try.’ With a raise of her leg first, her armour clanking ever so slightly to the man embroiled within the clothing and wood of the cupboard, she delivers a suprisingnly swift kick to his stomach, to keep him down for a moment. With a smooth turning, Obelia’s blade moves with an abrupt cut, the blade inches from the mans throat as she holds it steady, tapping the side of his neck with the flat of her sword. ‘Answer him. Now.’ --- ‘Yeah. Bed. Dang, Noel…’ Langley sighs as her form heads upstairs, quiet as she looks over the sleeping yet somehow very restless form of her friend. Noel’s eyes flicker beneath the lids and she hesitates, but rubs the back of Noel’s ears, hearing her purr ever so slightly in her rest. She chuckles once and yet pauses on the mid step, the words coming from Noel’s lips, as Noel herself is quiet, her dream shifting. A boy walking away, afraid. No one to call her that word again… ‘Andy…don’t…please don’t go…’ ‘….’ Langley gazes with a small freeze at her friends mumbling lips, a hesitant glance to the fearful expression of her friend within the nightmare. She is silent for a second. But the words meaning are not lost on her. And as she stands there, she is silent, the dawning sense of sadness at what she must decide coming to bear. --- ‘I’m not good practicing this ‘lady’ shtick, but I’ll try, good sir.’ She grins wide to him, her heart far calmer then it had been only a few moments ago and her mind relaxed enough to just enjoy the steak as it came, a bow of her head to the waiter, some small apology still whirring in her head for earlier. Yet with a grin, she dives her fork and knife into the steak, cutting it to pieces surprisingly quickly, tossing small chunks into her lips, chewing rather happily. But with a smile to Horatio, her mood soaring for the moment, she tilted her plate a bit towards the guy. ‘Want some? I know I’m hungry, but soup won’t fill ya up all the way.’ --- ‘…Uh.’ A hug. A smile too. She is actually very… sweet, her softness making his cheeks flush, her smile making him mumble once or twice. His arms, careful of the gauntlet, wrap around her too in a small, but none the less, tight hug as he murmurs. ‘I hope I can make you smile some more, Ellandra...’

‘Noel?’ With an almost lazy blink to the direction Andy points, she suddenly sighs and her palm touches her forehead, dragging down her face with a slow sigh echoing from her lips. ‘Ah, geez. Why can’t she just sleep like a normal person for a change…’ With a slow sigh, her hand absently waves to the leaving Andy, too tired to remain in her ‘heart-rending crush confusion mode’ for now and with a slow sigh, her arms wrap around the back and lower half of her best friend, tugging her up to her chest… --- ‘Lan… A… An…’ Noel’s words come in small, rather shaky whispers, trying to say a name but finding her voice box refuses to finish either, her body reacting with her heart and mind. She curls into the rather confused looking Langley’s arms as she still sits at that crossroads, curling tight on herself, disrupting herself in her sleep with a decision she still has no want for. --- Laughter. A most gratifying sound if there ever was one. With his lean and his words, she responded with a more confident in tone lean of her own, eyes meeting his with a slightly wry smirk back to him, arms folded calmly as her finger reaches, poking his nose with a calm whisper back. ‘Just wondering how long you could keep it in your pants, Horatio~’ She smiles though. She hasn’t felt this cheerful in a while. This guy… he’s a good guy indeed.

Distractions deserve more credit then you think. For far from spending a moment slightly awed by the usage of magic, something that surprisingly, seems rare to Obelia’s sight or actually guffawing at the sight of a small fireball missing, Obelia decides to timeshare the moment effectively. The time part being timing her arm right so, as the clawed, metal clad arm takes that moment, banking on the two she’d pushed back gazing in either a dumbfound state or slight confusion at the fire Ken has thrown, to move down and across, straight as a pole, to try and take their legs out from under them, she flicks her other arm with a casualness born from using her blade so often, a small pause that may have given the other third a second to much, but moving the flat of her blade so it swept upward, to not cut but bash into the third mans chin, a slightly quiet thank you nodded back to the rather helpful despite all things priest. --- ‘Uh.’ She doesn’t have much else to say, raising a brow at the shovelling of food that could make her dad’s eating look like the dining of a noble born gentlemen. So with a curious glance to his smile, looking more pained then pleasant, she asked with a rather blunt tilt of her head, not exactly oblivious but nor hitting the nail quite on the head. ‘You okay, before you go running off? Eating food like that, the way you’re trying to smile not looking anything like when you’re actually happy...’ She tilts her head further, narrows her eyes and leans down, indeed, perhaps reinforcing her role of ‘big sister’ to him while trying in her heart to not believe that could be a possibility. ‘You have stomach problems, Andy?’ --- Sleeping is not always too good a thing for those who have not had much to dream well about for a while. For example, in the dreams of Noel Isamu Santru, her mind is quiet and her form curled on a path in her head. There is not sound but merely two signs, one saying ‘L’ the other saying ‘A’. This dream is fresh, as fresh as the turmoil of this morning, nor is it hiding the meaning in subtly, hitting her heart again and again with the simple question, to risk friendship over love with another or to put a crush aside for a bond that has existed for so long. It should be easy, it’s just a crush. But for the curled, glancing form of the dream-Noel, it is never such an easy thing when the object of said crush is the first to call her words that make her cheeks burn and her heart beat faster. To look past fur and see something that does not repulse you. She sits in that path, in reality, equally slumped, curled against the corridor wall, slumbering on choices that she wishes she had no choice in making. --- ‘…Hmmm.’ She feigns an annoyed expression, yet the twitch of a smile is unconstrained, the corners of her lips curling into them as she folds her arms quite casually, a small and rather playful wide eyed look at the expression of his age. ‘Why, I guess I should be shocked such an elder gentlemen has taken a fancy to me.’ With a slightly softer smirk, she sits back but indeed, the serious tone has lifted, the dinner maybe becoming what it could’ve been from the start. Light, cheerful and indeed, as Carrie’s lips opened- ‘So, are you planning to woo me into your bed?’ Teasing. --- Oh. Approval. That’s… she’s smiling, that’s good. I’m doing good and everything! And… she isn’t angry like Carrion was. She looks happy. Find your own happiness. That’s what he had to do, right? So with a hesitant glance, he rubs the back of his head yet smiles a bit too, seeing how bright eyed Ellandra is. And taking a chance in that moment as well. ‘I wanted to- well, if you wanted, would you like to…? Well, go out sometime, as a thank you? Or maybe just… to go out, you know. Because that would be amazing. Really.’ Smooth indeed.

‘Hello.’ With a grin, seeing two come through the door, wood clattering against her armour and a cold smile cutting across her lips, Obelia turns her blade, so the flat is facing them, one hand gripping the handle, the other holding the tip, before thrusting the flat into the edges of their blades, pushing them both in an intention of sending them straight back out, backwards onto their asses. He doesn’t die. She doesn’t die. --- Of course, when the problems come to the doorstep, it might be time to eat that porridge a bit quicker. Langley yawns, as having shifted her body fro the chair, her mind as dazed as someone who’d just spun in a dozen circles, she wobbles into the kitchen, still fully dressed, rubbing her eye with a gloved hand. Her other, half open one catches sight of Andy. She smiles a bit and opens the hand rubbing her right eye, a form of wave. ‘Yo.’ She murmurs it with a rather tired yawn added into it, stretching and elongating the word as she heads for the cupboards, a small sigh of delight at the smell of porridge, wondering what else there could be, oblivious to Andy’s turmoil. More just happy he’s here. --- Noel’s eyes flicker shut, almost as if with Langley awake, she is swapping time with her, drifting into casual sleep. In truth, her sleep the night before was not long, not filled with any hopeful dream. Her parents had slumbered while she had lain in bed, curled tight and wondering on the sight she had seen, of Langley and the then unknown Andy returning. So she falls into a rest, curled to her knees with the sunlight coming in against her fur rather gently. Today has been an odd start indeed. --- ‘…Thank you.’ Carrie’s eyes are rather quiet, her smile a bit small too. But her heart is beating a bit faster, actually genuinely touched by that remark. No one has been this determined to make her feel good since her parents and even then, their attributes sometimes got in the way of this act. Slightly hesitant, she smiles at the waiter and rubs her head, trying to relax a little as she responded to the idea of the waiter being quite an ass. ‘Nah, I shoulda just ordered. It’s busy so I guess the dude just hasn’t got time to stand around and relax.’ With a slight raise of her eyebrows, relaxed once again, she folded her arms and cocked her left brow, tilting her head at him with a smile. ‘Fine, but I get to tip too. You can’t be COMPLETELY awesome this whole time and leave me out.’ She grins, emphasising her completely with a small but rather playful roll of hr eyes. But at his next question, she goes a bit quiet. Hesitant, she wonders if this means he’s… well, going to just go. She realises very clearly she’s being clingy… but after all this, if he just ups and leaves… ‘Nineteen. Sorry if that’s a problem or something.’ --- ‘Oh.’ Zwool’s eyes got a bit wide at the door actually opening, seeing Ellandra standing there. He looks to her eyes and wonders why he didn’t notice they were so bright before. Maybe if she can’t talk, she finds other ways to? His question he quells because he knows what he wants to do, his gauntleted hand rubbing the back of his head as he speaks. ‘Uh… I came to say sorry. I… well, over the past day or two, you’ve been treating me really well and ‘cus I was being a bit narrow minded, selfish, I didn’t quite see how kind you were being Ellandra. And I wanted to also say thank you. Thank you, a lot, a real lot. If I could see you again, or something-‘ Wait, am I asking her out? ‘-then I would like to see you again and even though you don’t speak, I um… would like to get to know you more? Uh… yeah. Sorry for coming across… yeah.’ Well, with awkwardness aside, knowing she won’t vocalise a response, he still waits for one, standing there with a sheepish expression, rubbing his cheek hesitantly.

‘If you die, I lose a friend. You don’t die today, Ken.’ Her tone is as cold as she has ever made it, yet the message remains as caring as she can keep it. She draws her sword from her side, the long, jiggered backed blade glinting at the jewels in it’s hilt against the light streaming in from broken glass and through cracked glazing. She turns her head to the door, keeping her blade level with the head of the door and letting her clawed gauntlet free of the swords handle, allowing it to rise halfway in a guarded position. ‘Not today.’ --- With a rather heavy sigh, Noel realises after a moment she hadn’t noticed her body slumping against the wall, slipping down it until she hugged her legs and just, well, sat. She glances around a moment and noting no activity bar the chirp of rather annoying seagulls in the distance, wondering. When did she become such a quick to action kind of person? The want to train came pretty much soon after Langley left, the want to fight every time someone raised a voice in hate against her for no reason other then her look. Andy… she’d known for what, five minutes? But he called her… she shakes her head, a slight sigh echoing that movement from tired lips. Langley. This is a pretty crap way to welcome you home. --- Langley’s sleep is disturbed, ever so slightly by bird calls in the distance. Not necessarily the intensity of noise, so much, rather her body being used to being woken in the morning by the early day chants of the gulls. When you live relatively close the sea, you get somewhat used to it. She mumbles once or twice, a small exhale coming from her as her body tries to awaken, despite the motion to try and curl within her own cape even more being rather tempting, seeing as it is rather warm… --- ‘I don’t like worrying ‘em either. Despite my dad’s attitude, my mom’s protection, I love them. Always will.’ She smiles too, neither tired nor serious. Just honest for the moment. With a slight curiosity, she actually ignores the small tint in her cheeks, hearing those words. ‘Someone like me…?’ With a slight stare, she blinks, realising suddenly he’s mentioned her glasses. She tugs them from her face, unknowingly exposing her eyes as she glances over the lenses, a small realisation that she may have already gotten, but the effect dawns on her now, making her groan somewhat. ‘…Crap. I forgot about… these may cost quite a bit, lenses are meant to be specialised...’ But with a slow pause at the chuckle, she is hesitant, worrying he’s just laughing at her, for being foolish or childish or- Too serious. Well, that was from left-field. ‘…You… actually want to hang out with me? You’re not just pranking me or something?’ She is quite genuinely surprised. It wasn’t as if she was like a disease to those around her, or avoided like a virus, but since this journeys start, she’s felt like she hasn’t quite fit in with anyone she has met enough to just be able to hang out with them for more then a day. She has no time to further awe herself at this, having been jolted back to reality by the waiter, a worried glance at his annoyance and hastily opening the back, grabbing a handful of coins and handing them too him. ‘Uh… there, that’s for putting up with my waiting, sir. I’d like… some steak? I’ll pay for whatever my friend here’s having…’

‘Go ahead. Oh and sorry for this.’ Her apology, Obelia’s eyes screwed up a moment as she glances to the window, know this shot will not hit or is very unlikely to. So with that in her head, she turns her wrist, keeping it slow so her body stays in front of him. But with a draw opened at Lucinda’s bedside, she takes the knife out, swinging her arm, letting the knife go so it’s blade soars through the open window. And to what result, she does not know. --- ‘…’ She see’s him wrench free as he says those words and of course, they’re right. The worst thing is she doesn’t know why that huts the most. It’s very quick, these feelings, maybe that’s what worries her. That and Langley. She lets him go to indeed the kitchen, a rather plain but well filled affair of a makeshift rather large freezer, a stove, a kitchen table and chairs, the usual. So Noel just sits there and waits in the corridor, so confusing this morning has this been. --- Horatio’s responses take her through a number of her own reactions, ones which don’t leave her feeling, well, as alone as she has. His words to her reason for example make her smile a bit, a slow rub of her cheek following as she feels it grow warm at words of understand, not derision. She lightly feels her heart sink though, knowing now with confirmation, a note cannot assuage a parents fear. She just nods a bit, realising she may have taken the mood down the wrong street. ‘I will go home, one day. But not today.’ She says it with a degree of assurance despite the fact her guilt grows ever so slightly, wondering if her parents have cried or something close since she left. Or maybe they just keep living, that’s all. His remark to her supposed beauty makes her smile a bit, an honest one as she responds. ‘If you had any idea how much I’ve wanted a guy to just say that, for however long it’s been, you’d know I have no qualms with you sayin’ it, Horatio.’ Price. She hesitates but for some reason, knowing she doesn’t have much money, she doesn’t want to leave him either. She’s just met a guy, who despite his appearance, despite the mention of money, honestly called her beautiful. So it’s with a slight ignorance of the waiter, she hesitates but reaches into her bag, tugs out the still rather fat wallet of money and lets it rest on the table, saying with a hesitation. ‘I hope that’s the right place for you to want to see me again.’

'KEN!' Even with the sight of Lucinda still slumbering, she is content for a second, knowing the man she is learning to call friend is beside her. So as the dark shapes that go fro dots to bolts within the windows view, do so in moments, she grabs Ken, albeit it roughly, by the shoulder, tugging at him to move behind her. The armour might not stop a bolt from piercing through but it might very well stop him from dying. 'I will move her. Stay behind me and do not move from that position.' She sounds cold as she says it, for battle is not the place for overt emotion, for letting someone get hurt in a panic. She darts her hands down and while she takes a moment to steady her breathing, she grunts, lightly tugging the bed across, making sure he stays right behind her. --- Huh? She pauses and just silently, stares. Her eyes turn to the boy hugging her and can only watch with a silent disbelief at the response to her touch. She is slightly silent though her mouth is open too. He moves back, trying to stammer, to respond but he darts. Oh no. Not like that, she thinks. She moves after him, hesitant but moving on muscled legs, running down after him, hesitant but reaching for his arm with an outstretched hand, her red fingernails brushing his sleeve. 'Andy, wait!' --- 'Well, why I'm here isn't exactly news, Horatio.' She grins at him with a slightly tired smile to her; understanding that what reason she's about to give is the tired and tested reason for doing stupid things such as this. 'I wanted to prove I could be somebody, you know? Have an adventure, come back world-learned and strong. So dad might shake off his attitude and mom would know I could take care of myself.' She rubs her cheek a bit and pokes at the bridge of her glasses, nudging them up even as she looks through the very cracked lenses, small flecks of glass coming from the tiniest movements. 'So I left and wrote them a note. I know it's not the right thing to do, but otherwise I thought I'd never get the chance, you know? Be stuck in a shell and believe the worlds all roses the rest of my life. And after what happened the last place I was, I know now that's… well, not true.' Memories of the riot echo back to her and she remembers with a shudder the knife in her bag from that trip, now resting at the bottom of her bag. She is silent a second but smiles soon again, giggling slightly at the notion him and her mom would get along. However, as she speaks next, hearing his words, she both smirks at first and then suddenly looks so serious, as if tired from the idea of such a notion. 'Well, first…' the smirk rises to her lips. 'Did you just call me beautiful, Horatio? And second…' and then, the serious glance to him, one that isn't meant to put him off but conveys her best answer. 'I have to learn to defend myself. If someone came and hurt my family, tried to take them away, my friends, my life, what can I do? Just sit there and wave them off, lay down and pretend to be dead…?' The thought, the image that comes into her head she dismisses but she rubs her stomach, feeling a bit ill from even that idea, that fate for her home, her friends… her parents.

Noel’s eyes roll once t the response she receives. ‘Impressive indeed’ is hardly the musings of someone truly awed by another’s achievements when they need to be reminded of the others abilities and strengths. She is silent a second, giving him a small sta. She kind of gets it in that moment, that he doesn’t like Langley that way. And in truth, all it does is make her feel smaller inside, as if those guilty thoughts of him likin her more are being felt unwanted desire, unstated hope. She just nods to his words, ignoring the small burning in her cheeks. And is surprised by a motion she realises is coming too soon, she knows it, but she wants to do this. Her snout moves to the top of Andy’s passing head and a soft press amongst his hair follows, a small kiss. She murmurs to him with a soft tone while her heart aches with a feeling of betrayal at the smallest touch. ‘You’re a good guy, Andy. But you just have to stand up and be honest sometimes.’ --- Carrie raises her eyebrows at him, though beneath her hood it’s hard to tell. So she just smiles, a small thought to herself. To test and see if he really does want to hear what she has to say. She folds her arms with a casual movement and with a slow smile recites to him. ‘Alright. I’ve got a good family, me and my mom and dad. Dad’s a bit conservative, you know, the whole ‘dude should protect his children, the girl’s supposed to help raise them.’ Ironic as my dad’s not as fierce as my mom when it comes down to it.’ Carrie gives him a grin as she explains why, slightly relaxing with every word she speaks to him. Like passing a secret from one to another, almost, relieving a burden. Or maybe just enjoyable talking, a good possibility. ‘He’s a watchmaker. I can kind of see why, he loves the components of things, how things work. He’s always trying to get my mom to explain to him things she does so he can understand how she does it. Drives her batty.’ She smirks at memories of her father’s rather meek yeses as her mom threatened him with working the stall on his own if he didn’t butt out of her business one time. Her mom, irons will that one. ‘My mom worked, still does I think, a market stall, selling anything. Really, she’d sell jewellery if she found it, food if she grew it, artwork if she liked it, she loves to work the market really. She’s a maestro of haggling, I kid you not. She once managed to get 40 gold out of some half eaten bread from a nobleman because she convinced him it was the softest bread he’d ever taste. Just so happens I guess the guy was satisfied, even if my dad had eaten the other half of the loaf.’ She smiles up at him, a small worry she’s boring Horatio by continuing with this. Yet as she’s been speaking, her form has slightly slipped back into the chair, her legs have folded over one another and her smile has grown wider up until this point.

Noel's eyes soften a bit. She is hesitant, not intending to make him scared of her but she doesn't want Langley undefended, doesn't want to feed the warmth in her head that is urging her to actually take him for herself. She just ignores the continuing burning in her cheeks, the idea that he could still consider her beautiful despite her own appearance. Yet with a slightly defensive nod at this notion of breakfast, Noel finds herself sighing slightly, inwardly too. 'Langley is a hybrid anri human who has spent most of her life either trying to help out her parents, me or not just deck anyone who had an insult to throw at us. I'd say she's pretty impressive too.' She heads for the door rubbing her arm, glad he'll tell her and even slightly guilty. So much to deal with, all in the space of a morning, she isn't surprised if he just wants to vanish. --- Langley's breathing remains soft and shallow, every breath steady and slow within a dreamless slumber. Yet at one cough, her form curling slightly tighter into the chair, her tail slinks up and quietly wraps around her leg. She continues too rest, silent now as the clocks tick moves on. --- Seeing Horatio's face become quite thoughtful before he came in, her head turned back, Carrie wonders for a moment what he's thinking about. Maybe just what they're going to eat. She shrugs lightly to herself, confusing to others who can see no questions asked to receive the movement, but she heads in with him. She ignores the small calm in her heart, the slow eats at being held in even such a small way. She sighs to herself and wonders at what point that's going to become a problem for him. Relatively soon, she chuckles quietly. As to what he'd said? Her cheeks tint ever so slightly, a small 'thank you' offered, while stopping herself from feeling like that was the best thing she's been told in a while. Because it kind of was. Sitting with him at the table, a curious glance going across the menu, she glances up and looks to him through her cracked world, answering as 'cool' as she can muster. 'What'd you like to know?' --- Zwool's fist lightly raps the door, hesitant too of touching it, or of not knocking hard enough. Paranoia to please anthers unknown whimsy, that he knows plenty is a trouble he'll have to face. But he knocks, realising with a sudden thought that the library book is still in his hand, turning his hand and gazing over the textured cover. His eyes are wide until he manages to shake his head, focusing on the door ahead. 'Focus'. He whispers it to the air, seeking reassurance in none as he waits. If Ellandra is resting, he'll probably be more annoyed at waking her, but he'll deal.

Noel's eyes flicker dangerously at the mention of how he thinks Noel is too old. She coughs once and with a firm gaze, glances to the guy rather calmly. 'I'm the same age, Andy. Does that make me less, as you put it, 'breathtaking?' She says it with that same firmness, even as the word makes her feel a bit shy. She glances to his face and seeing his own hesitance, his glance to her; she pauses and offers him a soft glare. 'What? If that's how you feel, you have to tell her. Knowing or not... you're a nice kid, Andy. You don't tell her you feel different, that's gonna lead her on, thinking... they'll still be a chance.' She seems quite quiet then, as while Langley sleeps, she feels quiet guilt at wanting to hug the nervous guy, for how much he's trying not to just panic. --- 'F... Feh. Maybe being carried my one weakness. Which considering my name, is an irony indeed...' ‘She grumbles at his accusation of lost bravado, a slow huff as she curls, though rather snuggling, into his arms. It feels quiet warm here. She doesn't really pay much attention to the place, bar an odd smugness she is surprised she possesses. Being glanced at being held like this, that's a new feeling she has had yet to experience. So much so, as she is set down, she grumbles as if annoyed it stopped. But she does smile at the low-key nature of the place; she smiles and softly bows her head to him. 'Well, seeing as how they aren't any real ladies about, guess you'll have to make do with me~' She moves inside, happy too. This feels... relaxed. .

With a slow glance across to the boy whose flustering is causing her no end of worry and sighs, she slightly folds her own arms, gaze watching Andy with a rather quiet gaze as she seems to consider what it is she seems to want to say. Langley is her friend, her best friend. She would do anything to keep her safe, she feels that in her heart, why seeing her leave without her hurt so much. So she won't let another leave Langley, make her feel such anger and pain. 'By hang, I mean don't let her go. She clearly likes you, you know? You're the first guy she's remotely taken any interest in, Andy.' Her eyes watch his and for a moment she wonders what he will think, or if he'll even just get it, her words, her meaning. So she just waits for his reply, his thoughts. And ignores the fact he'd actually love to ask her about herself. Kinda. --- Langley's eyes drift shut after a while, the need to sleep pressing gently at the corners of her consciousness. A clock ticks in the distance but she doesn't really pay much attention. It just continues its metronomic music, her mind falling slowly into rest. No figures of ghostly white or angst over romance. She just feels darkness, and then she's gone, atop the dreamer's ocean. --- !!! Carrie's eyes shoot open and in his arms, she goes a bit red. No guys ever actually just done this before, swept her into their arms and carried her off. She goes all romantic in her head for a moment before returning herself to the reality of the situation, slightly red still in her cheeks yet smiling a bit too, a nervous reply to the surprisingly trong seeming guy. 'Ye… yeah, not bad at all, Horatio. Now, do you… well, you know a good place to sit and eat?' She wonders if he knows the area well and has some idea of what to get. If not, a random place to sit and dine wouldn't cause to much harm, maybe. Though she has not tried Pravna's delicacies yet, with another person, maybe she'll feel less paranoid of food poisoning. --- Where now? Zwool's eyes trail the street, his feet carrying him with a sense of purpose that defies his, well, actual lack of purpose. He has no need to be here, nothing is tying him here either. But he realises after a moment where he's heading for. He trails the streets, making sure this is the same path, the same one Ellandra took. The same that leads to her house. Find someone. Ellandra had taken him here, so now he is wondering on why? What made her want to be that kind to him out of nowhere? He seeks her to apologise for how he acted, his look nervous. It wasn't fair to use her in any way to gain one up over Carrion and Adrian and he needs her to know that, wings twitching nervously as he heads to her home, to seek something he's unsure of.

Fascinating. Breathtaking. Oh goddess, oh goddess, oh goddess no. Noel's eyes are wide and for a moment, she registers that she is flushing hard at the words Andy's saying. She speaks and with a slow effort to not stammer at the words, she speaks in a slightly calmer tone as well. 'It's... fine, Andy, I'm not... annoyed, just... don't leave Langley hanging, okay? If you... if you don't, then you can ask as much as you like, I... really won't mind.' Course I won't mind. You called me breathtaking. You... why? I'm not... Her mind races silently and she stands there, her fur at her muzzle tinged harshly with red. --- Langley's eyes are falling shut, slightly nodding out of consciousness. Her body is slipping slightly to the side and she's confused why she's so tired again, but maybe it's because she realises slowly that last night, her sleep had been infrequent, her eyes open silently at points as her body flashed in and out of the waking world and dreamless sleep. So she mumbles, a boys name on her breath, a girls, her body curling into the chair, falling into slow rest. --- I'm not thinking straight. That's what Carrie thinks as she see's his face become worried and her mind, her heart actually flickering. Too long alone she muses, to find a hint of worry this touching. She smiles as a result, a bright smile of kindness to the guy. He's been stand-up so far but... with his offer, she cannot ignore some hesitance. '...I... don’t know, Horatio. It's... you've been funny in a few short moments, but.. I need some guarantee that you aren't gonna... you know, it's... I need to know I'd be safe around you, right?' Carrie's brain flickers and a thought come into her mind, her smile soft too. '..How about... you and I eat something and if I like how it goes, I'll rest up in your room if you prove a stand-up guy? Or...’ Her smile takes on a mischievous edge, even tired. 'Are you not man enough to try? ~'

Noel's eyes blink once or twice to the boy's answer, surprised the guy is even willing to still talk with someone who can tease him to blacking out. She is slightly confused though at his glances away, her eyes watching his features. She bites her lip a moment, the tip of her muzzle before asking him with a rather worried tinge to her tone, something clicking as she recognises why he may have fainted, why he isn't just looking at her. Her arms slightly sway but remain by her side as she asks what it is that bothers her. 'Andy..? Do I make you feel uncomfortable in some way? I don't really... well, Langley is happy with you, I just know that. So no, I don't wish you to leave but there has to be a reason you're not looking at me, a reason I made you... fall over.' Putting it lightly, she murmurs inwardly, but her gaze remains on him. --- Langley's eyes flicker open, closed once or twice, her hands shifting with her arms to hug her legs, drawing them to her chest. She is still quite tired, something that she thinks she's forgotten at the back of her mind. Something from yesterday, but what it is, she finds is just beyond her memory's recalling for the moment. She is slightly quiet, glancing once or twice to the stairs, wondering what will happen with a slow curiosity. She is already quite tired... --- Carrie's slightly more relaxed as her feet move ahead, though she does her best to think of what the next, cool line to say will be, even if it might not. 'I walk how I like, I just prefer my world less slanted.' She offers a small smile at that, yet glancing around, hesitant at his offer, she does nod. She sighs, thinking she may be acting to rashly, but the guy hasn't felt her up... which would be something she thought would happen relatively quickly. 'Well, alright, food's good.' She realises with a sudden rumbling sound, her surprise at that sound fades to embarrassment, as her stomachs grumbles loudly, the hunger it holds rather audible. '...Yeah, eating sounds very good.' --- Zwool's eyes glance to Adrian's moving form with a slight confusion, but tries to remain calm, collected in look. However, he isn't sure if anything he says is even remotely helping, nothing stopping the push from feeling exactly as it should, a push. He is silent as he leaves but just glances to his own hand, the book clasped in his fingers. He just nods, silently to himself and walks off again, determined to just find a direction where this sort of encounter will become far less likely to occur.

Obelia slightly takes solace in the smile of Ken, but her breath halts a moment as she glances to the side, unsure of the sight which awaits her. --- Noel slightly sighs as she feels the quiet breathing of Langley against her shoulder. She glances to her eyes, Langley's own quiet watery but calming a bit. Langley asks first as Noel sighs slightly more, the answer one which feels as if it is already been ready a while. 'Is it?' 'Seems like romance Langley, yeah. Though so young looking. Didn't know you were aiming that young~' 'Shut… up...' Noel glances to Langley's eyes but finds a slight smile forming. She breathes an inward sigh of relief and then murmurs to Langley. 'I've been training.' 'I know. You look a lot more showy.' Noel sniffs and grumbles loudly. 'I prefer the term confident.' ‘Sure you do.’ Langley sounds firm but she is still smiling slightly, rubbing her eyes. Noel doesn't stop hugging her and she just sighs, breathing deeply and clinging to her friend. 'You love hi-' 'No, too soon. That's just... too soon...' Noel glances to her and Langley, whose heart is beating slightly quicker then usual. A week or so over the mountains shouldn't lead to this. But she does wonder, quietly as her friend hugs her, what it is that makes her happy being around the fainting, cute priest. Noel slightly blinks as a quiet idea forms. She hugs Langley tight with a squeeze and cups her cheek, looking to her slightly wary glance openly. ‘Langley, listen to me. I’m going to go apologise to him. Wait here a sec, Kay?’ ‘…Al… Alright, just be nice to him.’ ‘I will. Promise.’ With a slight flicker of a smile, Noel sits up, pets her friend’s hair, eliciting a hesitant purr and dashes upstairs, looking around the upper floor. She sights the guest door, tapping at it and calling out. ‘Andy? It’s Noel, I know you might not want to see me, I just came to apologise.’ --- Carrie’s eyes glance with a slightly annoyed stare at his laughter. But with the words he speaks, she can't help a slight calm settling over her body. He isn't a creep, however much his words don't exactly mesh with her own. She does respond casually with her own smile, maintaining her pose. 'The name's Carrie, guy. No girly. Yours?' But as he mentions going with her and for a moment she is hesitant. But he seems quite a bit brighter all of a sudden. She slightly sighs, at her own judgement. But she does nod, walking up beside him and slightly, firmly answering him. 'And I'm not the sauntering type of girl, guy. You should try walking standing straight; you'll find the world looks strangely less tilted.' She grins slightly but with a slightly calmer glance, walks with him through the town. --- Zwool is slightly taken aback by the responses from Adrian and Carrion's lips. Well, he mumbles inwardly, this should have been expected to some degree. He feels a number of simplistic reactions, the wants to cry, to grow angry and shout, to hit Adrian, to take Carrion in his arms. New start though. That's what this is, living a new life, based on what she had said. He pauses. But a moment later, Zwool looks suddenly quite a lot calmer, speaking with, while shaky, a calmer control to his tone as he tries to play it 'cool.' 'Actually, this has nothing to do with what happened before, Adrian. I was in the library and heard someone yell. I… it was Carrion, I admit that motivated me slightly more to come out and help, but you can have her, I need a new start in my life.' He is slightly hasty towards the end but he tries his best to look more confident, stronger willed. You can have her, he's said. And while that hurts, he thinks that is what the right thing to do is. However much his voice begins to slightly shake. 'Take care of her. I'm not going to bother you two anymore.'

Obelia’s eyes shoot to Ken’s before that final glance to Ken. She is riding on the emotion that comes from this. She knows Lucinda can’t feel the same way she can. And it’s probably about now she realises why she likes her. Lucinda, despite how she was with her, was the first girl outside of her home to show, albeit in a roundabout way, a want to interact, to offer kindness even if it is not the traditional kind. And Obelia ran away from that. So she shivers and looks to the priest once more, for a slight reassurance in the man she now calls friend and turns her head to the bed. --- Noel sits there frozen a moment. She has moved into the living area and quietly sits in the chair which she has nestled into numerous times in the past. It’s a worn armchair with slightly cottony sides and a rather tattered looking headrest. Its wooden legs are chipped in places. But she is sat on the very edge of it a moment and her hands hug her knees. She glances up, a slightly quiet one Langley stands in the rooms entry way and her eyes are very quiet, her hands placed calmly, left on the wall, right on her hip. She glances to Noel with a mixture of a rather cold glare and a slightly weary tinge. She walks calmly over to a now upright chair, it’s old looking, polished wood now sat upright compared to yesterdays strewn across the floor. She seats herself on it and finally, after sitting and looking to her, Noel’s own nervous gaze quite silent, she asks. ‘Why?’ ‘Why what? I-‘ ‘You know why, why would you… why would you push him when you can see he’s clearly nervous? I don’t understand that because the way I remember you Noel, you wouldn’t push anyone, you barely wanted to tease anyone, even when I had to leave.’ ‘You didn’t have to leave.’ Langley’s eyes are slightly paused by that and she opens her lips slowly. ‘I didn’t have to leave.’ ‘Yes, yes you didn’t. We were happy and you parents were fixing things. You didn’t have to go.’ Noel’s eyes try and muster anger even as Langley’s voice begins to slowly rise, her own eyes closing. ‘You know how selfish that sounds, right? I have a responsibility to help out my family as best I can.’ Noel’s eyes flicker and she glances to her with a renewed glare of her own. ‘You know you went away because you wanted an adventure.’ Langley’s eyes flicker back and her tone slightly shakes. ‘Is that how little faith you have in me anymore? You think I left just for that?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Get out.’ Noel’s eyes are a bit startled and she jolts a moment, Langley’s gaze cold. ‘What? No, I don’t want to go.’ ‘Well that’s funny because you don’t seem too cheered by me being here. It sounds like you’d be happier without me.’ ‘What am I meant to think when my best friend comes back after all this time and she’s not alone? That she’s found a replacement for me?’ Langley’s eyes slightly widen and while still angry, she can’t help a slight shock. ‘Wait a minute, you think that Andy is you replacement?’ ‘Well, how am I meant to feel?' Noel’s eyes blaze and she begins to stand and her body shakes and her tone rises. ‘You tell me I can’t come with you, you go off and the only sign I know you’re okay is someone turning up at the village making you out like some sort of hero and when you come back, you have the GALL!’ Her voice bellows and Langley’s eyes lose some focus, slightly startled. Noel seems to notice but her body tenses as she speaks in a measured tone. ‘You have the gall, to come back with someone who looks younger then me, who isn’t even carrying a weapon, who looks as scared as I was when we were little and you tell me I couldn’t have been more useful then him? Do you have a CRUSH on him or something? Some eye candy to make-‘ Noel’s gaze freezes a moment. Langley’s eyes have suddenly gone quite wide. She is silent and frozen and her fingers are gripping the edges of the char. Noel is quiet, her own gaze wide and she looks to her. ‘…Langley? You can’t have… you- it’s not, you can’t just... him? HIM?!?’ Langley stays quiet even as her friend’s voice raises. But Noel is silent. She just stares at her, and then gazes up at the stairs and then back to her friend. She looks to her tail. Langley’s is curling silently around her leg. She moves, quietly and Langley protests. ‘Langl-‘ ‘Get off me.’ ‘Langley, it’s fine, I’m sorry-‘ ‘No, stop it, get off, GET OFF-‘ ‘Langley…’ She hugs her friend even as she shakes and Langley tries pushing at her. But Langley realises quietly that she is very, very confused. And for some reason, that’s hurting a lot. She kind of feels something wet touch Noel’s shoulder and drip amid the fur but she just finds her hands holding her friends after a moment. And Noel is quiet, suddenly asking. ‘Why didn’t you take me.’ ‘Because… I didn’t.. I couldn’t lose you. You’re my best friend. Okay? That’s the TRUTH, YOU’RE MY BEST FRIEND!’ She is shouting into her shoulder but Noel just mumbles something and hugs her tighter, unaware of anything around them. For some reason, the same reason said when she first left is much more convincing when the addresser is crying, clinging to you and is confused about their rather abrupt romantic feelings. For some reason. --- Slightly startled, Carrie’s eyes glance to the guy in front of her and his request. He looks ragged and slightly worn at the edges. She feels an immediate fear come to her throat but at the moment, something else goes in her head. Something akin to the strength her mom has had when dealing with a customer. Even hooded with her cracked lenses, she places on hand on her hip, breathing quietly as she remembers how her mom would deal with slightly lecherous customers. She would try and filter those who were seeking something carnal and those who were misguided or ‘loving’ as her mom exaggerate. So with a slightly calm smile, she tilts her head and says in her strongest voice. ‘I’m not sure you could handle a day with a real lady, guy. What makes me so sure that you’re not gonna put the moves on me?’ Ahawhahahwhahhahh… continued her fumbling thought pattern. --- Zwool’s eyes trace the book and the rather old cover. It is blank but seems textured slightly rough. While the side feels smooth, it’s like brushing over smooth scales with the cover. He is about to flick it open when the events of outside unfold. He is quiet, nervous. The voice that begins all this with him but it sounds like she is angry, upset. He slightly inches to the door. He hears commotion around him. He loves her. He knows he does. But Adrian, he see’s him run outside. He should hate that boy, his jealousy like the brightest core of a flame. It’s easy to let him get hurt, it’s easy to let any of them get hurt. All those who protect her, if they all fall then she might need him. She might want him. She might. But then he remembers the girl with the innocent smile who held him as they’d rested, simply because she was kind. And he sighs and growls to himself, remembering what Carrion said, to live. So as he runs outside but he doesn’t run and push Adrian aside, however much he wants to, nor does he go hut the leaving knight, even if he seems to be why Carrion is now upset looking. He just goes, keeps calm and with some hesitance, asks the two. ‘I’m sorry for interrupting, but is everything okay? I was inside and there was shouting and I knew you told me to leave, I just heard it and was worried and I’m sorry and are you both okay?’ He says it in one go but his eyes try his best to not show jealousy, anger, any of that. Just concern.

Obelia is hesitant as her hand reaches for the door handle. Perhaps her hopes are high for a reason she can't quite fathom. Perhaps Ken's just good at raising them. But she slowly, hesitantly turns it, entering Lucinda's room at Ken's side, glancing un-convincingly nonchalantly to the bed. And sees? --- With a sudden freeze, Noel actually glances to the fallen boy and catches him quickly, before he falls entirely to the ground. She realises hesitantly she was teasing him but she hasn't expected such a reaction from him. And then she glances to Langley and all colour fades from her even faintly coloured cheeks. --- Langley's panic was at it's peak a moment ago. Seeing Andy in such a state of fear and so red, shaking that much has made her mind race where before, seeing a boy do that may mildly worry her, at best. But now she is silent. His words, what was he trying to say? Maybe..? Maybe what? And then he falls and she dives but Noel has caught her. And she glares darkly, her eyes filled with a rather silent anger. Noel's own are quiet, having only once seen such an anger in two others. Now, more then ever, she notes the similarity between Langley's eyes and her mother and fathers when she is angry. Langley herself silently moves and takes Andy into her arms, quietly whispering just four words, her head nodding rather quietly to the living area. 'In there. Right now.' And she then heads upstairs, quiet as she carries Andy with relative ease. Noel is silent a moment but lightly, she heads a bit quietly into the living room. Confidence is not at the top of her list at the moment, her entire body slightly quaking. She is afraid of what might come. Will Langley just.. tell her to go and never come back, the first time she's seen her in so long? Yet at the moment, Langley is just quiet. She takes Andy to the bed he was in before, setting him down and slightly glancing over him. With a small pause, noting he's okay, she sighs quietly, before heading back to the stairwell. Ready to finally confront her friend. --- Carrie shivers. The shower feels good but after exiting it, she is quickly to throw on her still rather worn clothing, tugging the hood and glasses, cracked, onto and over her eyes and head. She checks her money and realises she has plenty to afford quite a few more nights, yet knowing she still has the rest of the day, her sleep rather short, she glances around, picks up her bag and sets out downstairs, a small thought of fear. Such a big city, it is possible so much bad could happen. But she steels herself, giving a rather stern nod to the woman at the bar, whose eyebrows raise in slight amusement at the girls serious look, but nods, understanding she is departing for now. Carrie is trying to be resolved because, well, she's seen so many things come at her mom during her stalls sales, any customer from the needy and sad to the greedy and fickle. So a city like this, she decides quietly, to treat like a rather large selection of stall customers. With caution, care and attentiveness. And possibly, a weapon. But for now, she just glances around the street as she steps outside, taking a step into the unknown of the day. And of course, with a smile to her lips, she is unaware if she will regret it or not. --- Zwool's eyes trace the book he holds in his hand, He smiles at the feeling of the rather soft hardback, the front quite smooth as if the publisher has taken the time to weave the front. He is slightly curious what it is made of and wonders for a moment if it's an animal skin. He realises quite suddenly he'd be upset if that were true. He knows many hunt animals but the idea their fate is to become a book cover is... sad. He is annoyed a moment, that the word sad is all he has for it, but he just sighs, turning to any table and walking for a chair, wings furled and twitching ever so often as he glances over the title of the book, worn into the spine. Tales of the Anri. How convenient, he grumbles inwardly, glancing up to make sure there is a free seat ahead. He doesn't pay attention to the fact the author isn't listed.