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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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.

Goodness no, it had just caught her by surprise. ...mostly because she didn't realize herself, just how much she craved being close to him, when they were forced to be apart for so long. She hesitated a moment, then shook her head, "No, it's nothing..." A pause, and she followed it up a little shyly, "Do ... you mind if we stay like this a little longer...?" Heck, she might actually curl up even more comfortably with him. Sharon wasn't here to tease them and she wanted to take advantage of the time without her troll sister/friend/maid around. Even if it was only with something so innocent as cuddling.

Well good because he was in the same boat really. Rean was so starved for this kind of comfort even he didn't realize the full extent of it all. But now was different. Now he'd gotten a taste and while a part of him was aware this was going to make his time apart from Alisa hurt even more, he did not want to push away from this.

"Hah. No not at all. In fact I wass just about to ask the same thing." Just goes to show how in tune they were.

Alisa chuckled softly, "You were?" She was... okay with that. More than okay with it. In fact, she was so okay with it, she shifts to tuck herself more comfortably next to him. The only way she could possibly get closer to him was if she was in his lap, but ah...Haahaha, she was a bit too embarrassed to suggest THAT.

"It's good we were thinking the same then," she joked lightly, nuzzling herself against his side and tucking her legs up on the couch. Goddess, if Sharon were anywhere present she would not let them hear the end of the trolling.

"Mmm, this is really nice." Well... nice is not really an appropriate word to use. Heavenly, might be better but she blushed just at the thought of using that terminology.

Well since his first impulsive move had borne such wonderful results, Rean decided to trust those instincts some more as one hand slowly slid down Alisa's back and instead grabbed onto her hip lightly to keep her close to him while he let out another content hum in the moment.

"I know what you mean. I...can't remember the last time I felt so comfortable...so warm." This was going to hurt like hell to part with. He had probably just given himself one of the biggest weaknesses in this moment and yet he was hungry for it too.

The moment she felt Rean's hand starting to drift down her back, her lazy thoughts snapped to attention, suspicious! She almost assumed he was trying to get fresh, and she tensed when his hand came to a stop at her hip. Though without going further or doing anything more, fortunately for him. Still that was ...very close. Her heartbeat was racing like crazy feeling him pull her close, and she almost missed his comment.

Which... actually broke her heart. Just imagining how lonely he must be in Trista. She pulled one arm away, reaching down to lace her fingers with his, pressing into his side more. Ah, it was going to be hard to let him go, not just at the Roer train station but right now. It just felt so... right, so wonderful being with him like this. Why couldn't they have this more often?

Because the goddess apparently was determined to give him the hardest of trials in this world. Or maybe his luck was simply so poor it might as well have been cursed. Regardless Rean didn't want to think about that. If only for a long as he had Tiara there within reach. his hand instinctively closed around hers as if clinging to that closeness too.

The fact that he was even making those comments that spoke of his true thoughts and feelings was ample proof of how low his guard was because of such a precious moment of rare peace.

The hardest trials broken up by brief moments of bliss like this. Too brief, considering the overall stress and loneliness he must be under. But Alisa didn't want to think about it either. She wanted to fill his free time with happiness, as much as he could possibly handle. She treasured him and these moments, his unguarded candor. She was so comfortable she found herself nuzzling against his warmth as well, her thumb gently brushing against his hand in silence, simply appreciating the time they had. Even though three days was not nearly enough time in her opinion.

Breaking the silence after a while, she chuckled a little, "... you know, as much teasing Sharon gave us earlier, I almost feel she would still somehow know..." not that they were doing anything! ... but even the slightest hint of affection was more than enough for Sharon to have fun with it.

Three days of heaven would be more than he's had in the past months. Hopefully Claire would take care of things so that the would not be disturbed for those three days or maybe she could even squeeze in an extra day if Alisa could as well. Regardless Rean was not thinking that far ahead, just listening to Alisa's voice and the sound of her breathing so close to him.

"Hah. Yeah this is Sharon we're talking about after all..." Honestly she was just in a tier of her own as a maid and a person.

It would be very nice if Claire could squeeze in another day for Rean, but Alisa wasn't going to hope too hard for that. It might be beyond even the Icy maiden's capabilities, guilty conscience or no.

Alisa smiled, glancing over at him, giving his hand a little squeeze, "Well we should be thankful that she's staying with Mother right now." She flushed, "I'm... I'm pretty sure she would have lots of things to say if she saw us... like this I mean." Ahrm.

... but even with that risk, she didn't let go of Rean or pull away. She stayed right where she was, even though she did know she was going to have to let go and get up at some point. Heavens, if they fell asleep like this, Sharon would really have too much fun.

She would definitely try. Which was more than Rean would really ask of her mostly because he still had trouble fully trusting the woman since she was so very loyal to the man who had stolen away the future he had worked towards.

"Oh I can imagine what she would say." But still he didn't want to pull away even then. Not that he had to say that out loud after all.

Alisa personally couldn't understand why they would be loyal to such a man after what he's done, but she didn't want to spend more than a second thinking about Claire right now.

At Rean's response, she couldn't help but giggle a little by that. "Mmhmm... but I'd rather stay here with you anyway." Until Sharon popped up again. She nuzzled a little more into him, then stopped short, "Ah--! I mean... um..." ... no, she dug herself into that one pretty firmly.

"Are... you uncomfortable at all?" He was pretty much trapped in one position by her snuggled up to him like that.

"O-Oh really..." That was making his heart beat that much quicker since he was kind of thinking the same thing yet again. Sure he might blush up a storm and avoid direct eye contact. But he wouldn't want to pull away from Alis aright now either.

"Hm? Oh no no not at all. In fact it's the opposite really~"

"Aah..ye... yeah." Yeah she's really hoping he can't see how red her face is getting. She isn't looking at him so she can't tell if he's blushing just as much as she is.

When he admits it's the opposite of being uncomfortable, she blushes a bit more and smiles to herself. This was going to be very bad for them, she could tell. Neither of them were going to want to get up from this comfortable position for any reason.

"That-that's good. Um...let me know if you need to move or stretch or anything, okay...?" Although she felt like she'd put up with any discomfort if it meant she could be like this.

"Mhm I will." Though only at the last moment. He was going to milk this peace to the last drop he can manage to get out of it. In fact his hand adjusted its hold to a more tender and gentle grasp which also allowed his thumb to slowly rub circles over her hand while he nuzzled against her shoulder some more though hhis nose was starting to tilt towards her neck just a little bit and not even on purpose either.

At least she won't... be against more nuzzles - the hand not currently occupied with his own was absently rubbing his side, her breathing soft and even, a content little hum slipping out in a soft purr, "... you're so warm..." she sighed, the words sneaking out unintentionally. She meant them though - she wished she could juts blanket herself up in this warmth. Though that thought brings her back to Sharon's teasing comment about their sleeping arrangements, and she blushes more than a little again.

"R-Really? I'm...flattered you think so." Flattered was putting it mildly. His heart was thumping wildly in his chest at the compliment and the faint desire to push her even closer simply grew even stronger.