midnightstar

Since graduating from the Academy, life has been..interesting for Alisa, to say the least. She's been kept very busy, since she was upholding her promise to her mother on showing her the proper way to run the company, and it wasn't easy to put in those changes. Though it would have been a lot harder if she didn't have the support of those around her. But because of that, she hadn't been able to get time to get to visit Rean as much as she liked.

Translation: As much as she liked = every day. She did get to visit - or vice versa - at least on the weekend, and she talked to him almost every night thanks to the range on the ARCUS. Just as finished up for the night, she made her way up to the penthouse, glancing around to make sure she was alone (And you never know with Sharon) in order to take out her ARCUS once more and see if she could get a hold of Rean before bed. She was planning on seeing if he was in the area - alternatively, she was sure she could get away for a visit, if he wasn't busy.

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"NO! No no, nonononnonnonono," Alisa answers quickly. He takes on so much, the last thing she wanted him to do was worry. The elevator doors opened, and she shot a glance around, scowling at one or two employees before they quickly averted their glances (with small grins) before quickly stepping onto the elevator with him.

"The thing is, I didn't get a chance to bring up that.. um, well that...we'll be ..urm..." Oh my she's just getting more and more red, "We'll be--"

DING, the elevator doors open and Sharon is standing in front of them with a bright, sunny smile. "Welcome back Lady Alisa. Hello, Master Rean~! My you've grown into a fine young man!" Smile smile.

Alisa goes dead silent, the red in her face changing to the white of shock. "Wha... w... wh--!!!"

That was a lot of no's. At any other time he would definitely consider that to be a suspiciously vehement denial of his question. Still this was ALisa and she often got like that when really flustered so he just took her words for truth.

But then what was bothering her. Something about the two of them being what... Rean was about to ask to try and help Alisa along. That was until the doors opened and lo and behold the ultimate maid was right there in front of them waiting for both her mistress and her dear 'friend?'

"S-Sharon!" He didn't even process the praise she opened up with since yeah no one never could get used to the fact that Sharon could seemingly be everywhere and nowhere with merely a thought.

On the one hand, at least now she couldn't say they would be alone.. on the other.. SHARON. This might actually be WORSE. There was no telling what the shipper troll of a maid would do to get her amusement! "Wh.. what are you doing here? I thought you were with Mother!?"

"Your mother requested me to pick up some documents from her office, but when I saw the two of you, I simply had to be here to greet your arrival. It's been ever so long since I've seen Master Rean too." Sharon answered, smiling as she beckoned the two of them into the penthouse.

"Are mother and grandfather actually getting along?" Alisa asked, warily. Then a moment later, "WAIT A MINUTE. What do you mean when you saw - When did you..!?"

"Fufufu," Sharon closed the door behind the two and followed them into the massive, MASSIVE living room. "As a matter of fact, I was privy to the romantic, passionate embrace the two of you were sharing on the train platform. In full view of e v e r y o n e."

"W.. WE WEREN'T IN A PASSIONATE EMBRACE!" Oh Alisa's gone from rosy to vivid crimson at this point, and Sharon is just eating it up.

"I suppose that's true," Sharon agreed, glancing over at Rean to check his reaction. "It was much too public a venue for that. Perhaps if i hadn't come back so quickly to meet you, on the other hand... after all it's been such a long time since the two of you have seen each other."

"S..Sharon!" Alisa fought the urge to look at Rean, stubbornly focused on the maid.

"Don't worry Lady Alisa, I won't be long. I must get back to your mother and grandfather soon - but don't worry, I won't tell her you'll be alone A L O N E in the house. With Master Rean. My my what WILL you two get up to in my absence..~ ❤"

"SHARON!" Alisa is just.. mortified! And so embarrassed. Which is exactly what feeds Sharon, so temporarily sated, she sneakily moves over to take Rean's luggage.

"I'll take care of this - you two just relax~" Well. If they even notice her, but she'll stealth deliver Rean's luggage into the guest room if he notices and allows it.

Rean was only mildly in a better state than Alisa. His face had still gone completely beet read even if the main target of the unrelenting teasing was Alisas rather thn himself. Though the situations Sharon described were certainly taking root in his mind with ease. STartlingly so to the point that he just kept quiet after the first attempt to try and speak up. It seemed Alisa had a better job voicing her protests than he did at least.

He does notice Sharon use her shadowstepping skills to snatch up his luggage as little as there was but does nothing to stop it mostly because he realy really did not want to become the target of the teasing directly since it was plenty mortifying to be involved in ssecond hand.

"Ahahahah....I see Sharon is the same as always..." Reach chuckled very very awkwardly. SO they would be alone...all alone in a big place like this. Well now he would not be able to stop thinking about that fact. This was srisque to the maximum extent!

Alisa covered her face with both her hands when Sharon slipped out, still chuckling over the embarrassment from the two. Oh yes, this will sustain her for a week, tops. But now that she knew Rean was present, she would definitely be stopping in to check on them, both for support and trolling means.

"She never changes.." Alisa grumps, "I'm sorry about her." He was more than used to her trolling though, and when Alisa glanced over at Rean, her face reddened again.

God, now she couldn't get it out of her head - being along in the penthouse with Rean. "A.. and don't get any funny ideas either~!" She warned, just a bit flustered.

Because they were totally going to get funny ideas at some point.

This was actually refreshingly embarrassing in a way. It took him back to the first time Sharon had made her shipper commentary since the day she first arrived into the lives of Class VII. It felt nice. Very nice at that. If only also very very highly mortifying because goddess he's not able to get his imagination under control now.

"Oh-OH no no no of course I am not." Except he it but the ideas flooding his mind are not what he would describe as funny. He had dreamed of Alisa. Of moments just between the two of them. After all they were both young adults now and their flourishing love had grown over the months since their separation. Desires and deeper feelings had taken root only to now come roaring back up to the surface like a slumbering dragon roused from its hybernation.

Alisa narrowed her eyes and stared at him suspiciously, then nodded a little, ".. okay." She would love to hug him properly, but after what Sharon said -- not a good idea right now. She needed to calm her thoughts down.

"S-so..." Fidget fidget, "Do you want something to drink?" She could prepare a drink, that should calm them both down.

Rean let out the breah he'd been holding in after his reply. He wasn't sure Alisa would let that slip by but in the end she did so there was a hint of relief while his imagination kept betraying him at every step as he followed the fidgeting Alis a into the penthouse itself.

"Ah. Then I suppose if it's not too much of a bother, some coffee would be nice." Rean said, unknowing that Sharon would likely have heard that beore Alisa even made it to the kitchen.

Since Sharon hadn't left yet, and she certainly wouldn't want to leave without seeing to the guest first. Alisa smiled, motioning over to the couch, "All right, just... make yourself comfortable and I'll go -"

"Not to worry~!" Sharon interrupted, already emerging from the kitchen with a tray in which there was tea, coffee and some snacks. "Please help yourselves to this for now. I'll prepare a proper dinner for you both - I'm certain you're quite hungry, Master Rean."

"Hold on Sharon, wait -" Alisa protested, even as Sharon pressed the tray into Alisa's hands.

"It's no trouble at all my lady - you two have quite a bit of catching up to do." Sharon beamed, "I won't be long! You two just enjoy each other- oops, I mean, the snacks. ♥"

Sharon's eficiency was still bordering on the super natural even now. THen again that was to be expected of a Enforcer from Ouroboros. Honestly the fact that such an elite agent had willingly chosen to serve anyone other than her employer so faithfully and eagerly was one of the most baffling mysteries in the entire continent. He really wished he knew how all that came along but previous attempts to figure that out had ended in diversions or outright teasing about his relationship with Alisa or potential interest in older women.

"Ahaha...Still the same." he chuckled awkwardly before reaching over to take his cup and plate up, leaning in to take deep whiff of the aroma seeping up from the cup itself before turning his eyes over to Alisa.

"So um how have you been?"

Alisa sat down on the couch, setting the tray down in front of her on the table. "I've been.... good. Sorting out things within Reinford has been taking up a lot of my attention. I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I kind of wonder if I haven't bitten off more than I could chew, soemtimes."

She laughed a little awkwardly, "But I'm still going to prove Mother wrong about the company." She glanced over at Rean, cupping her tea with her hands. "Ah.. how about you? How are things in Trista?"

"I have every bit of faith that you will succeed." He answered with a warm smile. Alisa was strong after all and few people had a heart as big as hers to power through all of the potential obstacles in her way. It was just one of the many reaons that Rean had fallen for her as hard as he did.

When the topic of Trista came up there was a brief flicker of something a little darker before he quickly covered it up with a chuckle.

"It's pretty much just as you last saw it. Everyone busy with courses and Towa alway buried under work every time I actually get the chance to run into her." He totally was not going to mention how Sara had resigned shortly after everything had ended thus leaving him even more alone than anyone might have expected. But that was the role he had landed himself in life and until he could regain a bit of freedom to negotiate, there was nothing he could really do about it.

If she knew he was alone, she would have wanted to be there with him even more. It tore her up knowing he would have to go back to Trista in a few days. If things were more stable in Roer she would be free to take visits more often.

"Hehee, I'm not surprised. Towa msut be even more in demand now than before." She crossed her legs, leaning back to take her tea, relaxed. Sharon was here and they were both responsible adults! She didn't want to give Sharon any more ammo to troll them with. Although she did want to move closer to Rean very much.

"And.... how have things been for you...?"

And that was exactly why he suppressed those feelings to the maximum extent possible. Because the last thing he wanted was to let his troubles drag Alisa off of her path and cause her to fail that goal she set for herself. He would never ever forgive himself if that were to happen.

"Hahaha yeah it seems everyone heard of how she handled her duties as captain aboard the courageous to say nothing about her name spreading even further beyond the empire making all sorts of NGO's and government organization to look into her track record and go all starry eyed about her potential if she were to accept their offer." Rean laughed politely taking another sip of his coffee. But then there was a moment of pause as Alisa asked more about how he'd been personally. His smile lost some of that luster from before.

"I've been well. Very busy on my own end between getting ready to graduate and any last minute missions I get called out on. Still it's not so bad..."

She frowns at mention of the graduation. "It's not fair," Alisa frowned into her cup of tea, taking a sip. "After everything you've done in the last year, during the war, liberating towns and saving Princess Alfin and Prince Cedric... after all of that, you still .. you should have been able to graduate with the rest of us. We wouldn't have been able to do any of that without you!" Bunch of ingrates!

Though she might be a little angrier about that than she means to, taking it so personally. But by him not graduating with the rest of them, it split them up - if he had graduated, he would have been more free than he was. Well. She could blame his blood-related father for that too.

He smiles ruefully hearing that outrage on his behalf. It warmed his heart really to see her that upset about it. But then Rean had already realized he would never be truly completely free. Not as long as he was Valimar's Awakener. It's not like he could do something so selfish as just give up on his partner either. The two had grown close after all and he had no blame for his fiend of a father roping him into his plans in such a way that Rean would have no way out if he didn't want to be confined to the Imperial army full time.

"Alisa..." He murmured softly before his hand found hers and gave it a brief grateful squeeze.

"It's true! You put so much of yourself on the line to protect what's important to you, and this is how they repay it. You should have graduated with m... with the rest of us too..." How could he not feel even a LITTLE big angry over being drawn into a conflict that threw his life into turmoil?

"None of our friends are even in Trista anymore, except Instructor Sara -" because she didn't know Sara resigned. "And you're always taking everything onto your shoulders. You don't have to, I.." she trailed off feeling his hand find hers with that little squeeze.

She glanced up, looking over towards Rean, a blush covering her cheeks again - a hand squeeze must translate to an 'off' button for Alisa's outrage though, because she lets it drop there, turning her hand a little to curl through his. "...Rean..."

Rean smiled that heartbreaking smile of his as he leaned forward, putting his cup away as he moved a little closer so that his side would press up against Alisa's, his hand never once letting go of hers.

"Thank you, Alisa." He said softly leaning even closer. He still remembered that soft kiss they first shared. Rean often retreated to that moment whenever things became too much to bear. But doing so was a double edge sword as it picked at the yearning deep in his heart.

"Hearing you say all of that, getting so upset for me is more than enough." Even though he would love nothing more than to be able to stay by her side forever and ever. But his tyrant of a birth father would never truly let him. Not even because he hated Alisa or anything like that. At least then he would find it in him to be absolutely defiant. No. Rean and Valimar were priceless tools for his ambitions and goals. That was all which made fighting against him the same as trying to fight an ocean. A futile endeavor since the man would always have means to manipulate things behind the scene to have Rean end up exactly where he wanted him. He was completely trapped.

There it is - that side of Rean that could make her swoon so easily; that heart melting smile she missed seeing so much. He was more smooth than he even realized - without even trying. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks when he leaned close to her.

Being this close to Rean, like this, it made her remember that kiss too -she's had dreams of it, wished to be in Rean's arms whenever they spoke on the Arcus. If she knew just the extent of how manipulative Rean's father was, she would wonder if the Academy was forced to hold Rean back because of his father as well. But that would dip into paranoia. Possibly legit paranoia, but still paranoia.

She slowly set her cup down before she dropped it, making a soft little swooned whimper. Rean was far too kind, too _GOOD_ for the likes of Osborne, "..it's not fair..."

Part of that was her own selfishness - she knew that. But with her hands unburdened, she can give him the proper greeting she wanted to at the beginning, her arms coming up to slip around his waist with an angry sigh that lets the tension melt out of her frame as she presses into him in a tight hug, her voice quiet. "You deserve so much, more than anyone I know.."

He was trapped in a bad situation - all she could do for him was keep him in her arms for a little while so he could decompress from everything he's had to do.

He didn't want her to be burdened by those dark thoughts even if they were most likely very real. After all the man held the empire in the palm of his hand even more so now that the Nobles had lost almost complete public support through their actions during the civil war. Frankly the only way it could have been worse for him was if he would be forced to take action against the remaining nobles as well since a lot of them were connected to people he knew after all. Thankfully Osborne had not done that and just used him to settle external problems while internally he had The IronBloods take care of things.

For now though he felt as if he was submerged in a dream. Right there with Alisa close enough to feel her warmth and just soak in her presence and even her scent. Every little thing about her was so soothing to his worn down heart.

"I already have more than I deserve right now." After all he was someone who robbed Crossbell of its freedom. Even if his actions had limited potential casualties it didn't change the fact that all those people had been put into the equivalent of a gilded cage under Rufus' rule. A rule he actively helped instate.

Rean squeezed Alisa's body a little tighter, the hunger for such kindness peeking through while he almost felt his body trembling. After all this was such kindness and happiness after a drought of it which was instead filled with internal self loathing and guilt.

Alisa knew of some of the things he's had to do - but he never wanted to take away Crossbell's freedom, or even half the other things his father made him do. He's only wanted to protect people - and while yes, a lot of his involvement did minimize casualties, she did know that some people wouldn't see it that way.

"Rean... even though we're not together the way we used to be," meaning Class VII of course -... though she could just as easily be talking about a more personal level, from that small blush that was never going to go away as long as she was holding him, "You don't have to shoulder the burden alone. Any of us ... you know... you can lean on us too. You can..." She held him a little tighter, the blush rising in her face, so she buries it against his chest. Augh. "You can lean on me.." She said, almost in a whisper.

But they all knew Rean well enough to know that he still wouldn't want to 'burden' them with his problems. Even though it wouldn't be a burden. If they all worked together, maybe they'd find a way to get Rean out - surely...

Okay maybe that was just wishful thinking, but... still.

If Rean ever had to face some of those people he...really wouldn't know what to do other than to accept their justified grudge and keep walking forward. That was all he could do really. Sometimes he laughed at his childish naivety when he first enrolled into Thors intending to become a soldier in the army to try and release his adoptive family from his burden. Now he was a soldier and one of the highest profile ones at least on the easter front with Crossbell and Calvard.

He knows the words Alisa says are true but just as she would expect, he did not want to drag all of his wonderful friends down with him. That being said being shown genuine kindness like this was both healing him and hurting him a bit as well.

"I know..." And really maybe just sharing this intimate moment of bliss and comfort would count as leaning on her a bit more. It was obvious he was starved for such a treatment considering he really did not want to let go of Alisa any time soon. Odds were he would keep holding her even if Sharon were to walk into the room as long as she didn't say a word. Even if he did see her.

He says 'I know' but she knows he won't do it. He'd feel the slight sigh more than hear it, but it was as much out of frustration as contentment. If this kind of leaning is what he needed, she was more than happy to provide him all the peace and comfort he could ever want. As much as she could see him anyway. So with that one little gentle sigh, she relaxed her body against his, her hands soothingly brushing against his back. She'll drop the subject .. FOR NOW.

"At least.... at least you have a little time off between..." Well. "I'll bet you haven't rested in days."

And as if sensing the mood in the room shifting a little to one that was more peaceful and affectionate, Sharon quietly poked her head out of the kitchen, to check on the couple. But she didn't interrupt -- yet. She instead smiled fondly, even adoringly at the oblivious heiress, then at Rean before she silently slipped back into the kitchen.

The troll timer is ticking.

He knows that at the very least Alisa should suspect what he's thinking despite teh words he spoke. So he would endlessly appreciate the way she let it slide instead and just relax against him a bit more. The mood lightened imperceptibly after that but Rean felt eyes on him and he peered up just in time to catch the flutter of skirts disappearing behind the door.

"Mmm I guess you ccould say that. Between the tents and the train I can't say either one is particularly comfortable." He admitted with a wry chuckle.

Alisa of course, doesn't notice her family maid spying on them. She tilted her head up to look at him at the sound of the chuckle, a relieved smile playing across her face. It worried her, that he might forget how to smile or laugh with what he's been forced to do. "I thought as much. I feel like I should apologize, since our furniture has to be a lot more comfortable than the train and tents." And yet he'll have to go back to them still!

Though as she looks at him, her gaze lingers a moment, then lets go with one arm to hesitantly reach up and touch his face. There were slight changes from simply growing and maturing, and his eyes were.. different, but it was still Rean. "Your hair's gotten longer too." A little bit longer at least - she reached up to lightly smooth her fingers over his hair.