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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Well that was fortunate then. Though a day might come when Alisa would have to face that kind of sight. How she would deal with such wonders was a mystery entirely.

"Yes it's just as Alisa said. Don't worry about us and take care though I know you hardly need to be told that~" After all Sharon was by far the most monstrous maid he had ever met.

Sharon gave the pair a bemused smile, nodding once, "Very well then. Have fun you two!~" And with that, she turns and pads away, heading out the door.

"'Have fun'." Alisa isn't fooled in the least! She sighs faintly, making her way over to sit down again, though she glances at Rean a little nervously. Why everything. Just why. "So um.. how are you feeling now?"

Even if he didn't get half as many of those comments as Alisa, it still felt a little bit tiring whenever Sharon deemed them thoroughly teased before moving on to her pressing duties.

Rean turned back to Alisa finally letting his towel slip off of his head sowing his thoroughly tussled hair. Not quite bedhead level but with a wild and casual look regardless. Looked quite comfy to thread ones hands through it though.

"Better definitely. Had no idea how much I missed a proper bath really."

She... kind of liked that look on him. It was ..really tempting to want to run her fingers through his hair too - from that brief moment she had patted his hair, it was surprisingly soft.

"Th.. That's good~!" She pressed her hands into her lap, awkwardly, "Yeah there's nothing quite like a good hot bath, I'll agree with you there." Um. Alisa don't.. talk about baths with Rean, that's weird. And it making her head go places it really shouldn't. Sharon teases but Alisa did wonder what it would be like to wash his back...

GAH, no, bad brain, stop that.

If only she would take that plunge. ALisa would probably be surprised by the positive reaction to it. Sadly she still wasn't ready to go that far let alone get in the bath with him to wash his back from the look of things.

"So then. Now that I'm all freshened up. What should we do next?" A simple and genuine question that would be so misconstrued if the Teasing Goddess herself was still around.

BOY howdy would it ever, and Sharon would probably have so many regrets she left and missed that perfect comment. But it's all right, she had plans to troll the couple more - she just had to give them some time to relax between trolling.

"Wha-" Oh. Oh. Right. Alisa glanced around as if expecting Sharon to pop out of somewhere, then glanced back at Rean, "W-well... um...! Well we could play Blade or..." She glanced out the window. They could go for a walk, but as much as she loved Roer, Nord spoiled her for views. "Actually, you're the guest so...what would you like to do?"

Personally, she'd love to curl up with him on the couch, but she didn't dare suggest then.

Oh dear. Sounds like they best make good use of their time alone. To be frank though Rean had no special idea as to what to do with their sudden free time. Just staying with Alisa was doing plenty for his mood and overall wellbeing.

"Blade huh. It's been a while since I had a chance to play. Altina isn't exactly the card game type." Though he did start seeing glimpse of her being more than just a drone. Unfortunately she was still strongly associated with that bastard so he still kept her at an subconscious arm's length.

"Hmmm if I am entirely honest I don't have the smallest clue. I don't mind just staying indoors with you if you like~"

She inwardly cringed - mentioning Blade was an oops, it seems. Still him saying he didn't mind staying in with her brought another small blush to her cheeks, and she patted the couch, "...Okay, come sit down then." Even if him sitting near her would make it more tempting for her to play with his hair. That wild, tousled look was... ahrm.

"Ah, how... how's Valimar?" He's been here all this time and she hasn't asked about the Divine Knight even once~! Though part of that was mostly because she was concerned if she brought him up, she might remind him of his duties at the moment.

It wasn't the worst topic. Frankly he was starting to consider trying to get closer to Altina. But that was best something to sort out when not on limited time with the brightest thing in his entire life at this point in time.

"Oh. He's good. Getting better and better at talking like a human too. Actually he did ask me if I've been in touch with everyone else just last week." After all the big guy only knew thing when he was around Rean.

"Did he really? That's amazing~!" Alisa ...scoots a little closer once Rean's made himself comfortable too. "He's really come a long way from when we first found him." So long ago, and as much as she appreciated the Divine Knight, the fact that both Rean and Valimar were trapped in the claws of Osborne during this war...

She had her suspicions even after the war, Rean and Valimar wouldn't be free.

"hahah Yeah. It's amazing." Frankly Valimar being there with him just as trapped had helped keep him sane as well. Always reassuring and always supportive. And always watching over him without Rean even realizing it. When she moved closer, Rean's hand found her and gently covered it against the couch.

"Kinda wish he could see you again sometime." Unfortunately the opportunities for that were even rarer than those for Rean so there was no helping that.

Despite how worried she was about him - both of them - she couldn't hide the small, warm smile that touched her face when he put his hand over hers. On the other hand, it made her want to hold him even more - his situation was far from ideal, and if she could hug him and hold him and just make it all go away she would.

"I do too." Alisa said with a softer voice, smiling gently. "I miss ...him." Must... make things difficult for him. It was going to be hard enough to see him off at the train station later.

She falls silent for a moment, then glances worriedly over at him, "... have you been back home... ... to Ymir... since then...?"

Oh that was not the wisest question to ask as Rean averted his gaze guiltily. However he didn't let go of her hand at least. If anything she might feel him squeeze it a little harder.

"I... haven't. I don't think I can. Not yet." After all he learned about his biological father being alive and at the heart of everything that went wrong in the empire which in turn had given no small grief to his adoptive family.

She winces slightly - yeah she didn't think it was a good question to ask but it needed to be asked, to get out there. Feeling him squeeze her hand harder though, she scooted closer to him, "Rean..." His parents were probably worried sick over him. "...I don't think they would blame you for anything. None of the people in Ymir would...they care about you."

"Because they are just too good of a people. Too good for someone like me." After all he had stained his hands with blood of calvard soldiers plenty and there were even rumblings in the military about a campaign being prepared to take North Ambria. No doubt he would get pulled into that conflict as well. The fact that Jaegers worked to keep that place going and it was also Sara's homeland had filled him with apprehension galore.

She stared at him for a long moment, stunned. Part of her wants to just -smack- him for saying something so foolish, "Someone ...like you...?" she repeated slowly, as if trying to process this.

She pulled her hand away from his, silently, "What are you talking about? Rean...! How can you talk about yourself like that? I know, you blame yourself for having to help in this war, doing things you don't particularly want to, but you haven't had any -choice- in the matter, right? You've been able to keep a lot of people from getting hurt or dying, haven't you?"

"If you were such an awful person, you wouldn't care about any of that. You wouldn't have spent your first year in Thors helping out everyone, not just in Class VII, but in Trista as well. In every town you've been to! Not counting everything you did when war broke out and you traveled around looking for all of us, liberating Trista, helping everyone in need no matter who it was... you deserve --! You deserve kindness and love as much as the next person,... why are you always so hard on yourself,..?!"

Rean looked back at Alisa when he felt her hand slip out of his. Only to be treated to an outburst he had more or less heard before. But that wasn't quite enough at this point.

"I..." What could he really say? He already knew that Alisa would shoot down any argument he brought to the table. "I don't have any choice because I'm not strong enough to fight against him. To keep out of his traps and schemes. I can't protect anyone like that."

That was ..definitely defeatist talk. And in a way she could see where he was coming from - Osborne was a terrifying man, and she'd only seen him briefly. She knew of him mostly by rumors of his deeds - Rean had to /live/ it. She could scold him, hit him or yell at him all she liked, but that wouldn't help his situation.

So Alisa closed her eyes and took a breath, then let it out again slowly. "... I'm sorry." Without even thinking, she closes the rest of the distance with him, reaching over to pull him into a tight hug. "...it's not fair of me to get angry at you. I'm not even mad at YOU, I'm just... mad at the situation. But I don't agree that you're not a good person. I'm sure there's a way out of this we just ... have to find it." And that's going to be very, very, VERY hard. But she won't think it's impossible. Nothing is impossible - he has so many friends that would be more than willing to help him, and not just in Class VII.

It's probably harder than even the civil war was. Because it' not a foe one can just beat into submission. There's mch more in play here after all and one wrong step can lose much more than could be gained.

So while he felt this way all he could really settle for was the tight embrace of the girl who had stolen his heart before everything went horribly wrong. If that hadn't happened he likely would have tried to push her away for her own sake anyway. But she was....too precious that his selfishness at least in regards to her was just enough of a minuscule edge to allow him to stay there.

That's the worst kind of foe too. It's easy to just beat an enemy down or arrest them. Someone with that much power you would need a miracle to get out of something like this. But Alisa wasn't going to give up - he deserved to be free, he and Valimar both.

Although now that she's pulled him into the embrace she ..kind of doesn't want to let go. It was an impulsive gesture that she hadn't even really thought about - she absently brushed her hand up his back, wondering if his hair really was as soft as she thought it might be.

Which is what leads her hand to lightly slide into his hair, soothingly petting over it - just barely resisting the urge to run her hands through it properly. Just. Hairpets. "... sorry I... I won't bring it up again. I shouldn't have at all. I don't ...want your first visit in such a long time to be ...ruined by my selfishness." she murmured against his shoulder.

As long as she didn't put herself at extreme risk doing that, Rean would not stop her. Then again even if she did, Alisa would probably find a way to keep him in the dark about it for the most part.

But right now he really didn't want to leave those warm comforting arms and even the creeping hand along his back was quite pleasant too especially when she reaches into his hair like that.

"It's not selfishness. Trust me I truly appreciate that you feel so strongly about it." Just because he doesn't believe it's possible doesn't mean he is denying her feelings behind her outburst. Still right now all he really needs is this moment of peace away from it all while with Alisa right there by his side where he so desperately wants her to be even though it's not possible most of the time.

She absolutely would put herself at risk to help him - he's put himself at risk helping the entirety of the class, Trista and hundreds of other people, even ones he didn't know - all the time. But... yes, she would keep it from him just so he wouldn't worry, especially if it was very risky.

She wasn't the only one that worried about him though. She was sure he knew the others from the class, and his mentors, worried about him often. She wasn't going to say she promised to help him get out of his situation, because frankly, she didn't have the faintest idea how she COULD. Her arms relaxed a little, but didn't let go of him. She could almost laugh - her declarations of the past year seemed so naive - swearing she would show her mother the right way to run the company, and now here she was silently promising she would find a way to break Rean out of the stiflingly oppressive control of his own father.

Go big or go home, right?

"We all do. Every one of us." But especially her. But leave it to her to downplay her concerns for him, if only because she didn't want to worry him for worrying her. It was a vicious cycle. Just like her vicious cycle thoughts wandering in circles, her hand starting to lightly comb through his hair rather than just petting.

And he definitely knows she would do something like that. There's no way for either one of them to get what they want really. But maybe that was also proof of how strong their bonds were. How close his heart as damaged as it was, still found solace with hers.

"Yeah. I know." If only that would be enough. But he didn't want to let that budding cynicism ruin the moment so he just left it at that while he seemed to instinctively nuzzle against Alisa's shoulder while his eyes closed in the bliss for the moment.

Good intentions is never really enough. They were going to have to cash in favors and get the help of a lot of people, probably. But he had to have a happier ending destined for him...she hoped. If nothing else she wanted to share moments like this with him more and more, so he wouldn't fall completely into the dark of bitterness and anger.

Though she has to swallow back a soft noise when she felt him nuzzling against her, catching her breath in her throat. "R..Rean...?" Her voice so quiet it's barely above a whisper.

Well at least there was no shortage of people they knew. Yet even that felt like a drop in the ocean compared to the man who was puppeteering the entire empire even while seemingly dead. There was no denying the nobles had been played spectacularly by letting Cayenne and Duke Albarea think they had won. They had self destructed spectacularly and in the process caused most nobles to lose the bulk of their popular support. It was pure genius from an objective standpoint.

Rean didn't pull back even when he heard that sound from Alisa and only humed faintly when she called his name.

"Hm? What is it, Alisa?" Surely his nuzzling wassn't a problem.