Darkness on the Rise (Finished)

[The Jenn]

"That sounds nice," Lior agreed wearily, following next to and behind her. He'd stayed his uneasy vigil with her body for quite a few hours, getting very little sleep, and he felt as if he could collapse somewhere and not move for years. He didn't say anything as they walked, the silence more comfortable than conversation while his legs trudged on.

It was noticeable that his aura of coldness never diminished. giving the already chill night a real bite for anyone near. Even inside, the warmth wasn't as warm as it might have been. It was nice, though, and he slumped into one of the comfortable chairs made for animal forms with a relieved sigh.

When she spoke, he looked up to meet her gaze, his own eyes just as shadowed and haunted. "It's been a few years now," he told her in a small, tired voice. The subject of the cloak always made him anxious, in part because he knew that he couldn't explain a lot of what happened. "At first, I tried to live normally despite things happening that I couldn't understand. I kept getting called away at odd times, though, and I couldn't hold down a job because I just up and left. Also, you can't exactly handle customers when you look and feel like death." His laugh was hollow and slightly bitter, a touch of self-pity seeping into his voice. "Without a job, there was no money. Without money, there was no place to live or food to eat. I've been making do ever since then."

[carcinoGeneticist]

Rhiannon simply listened to him, her posture slightly relaxed now that she was in a familiar place. All the same, her ears stood erect and her eyes peered out at him, expression one of interest. The randomly getting up and leaving seemed to make sense, since he had just appeared beside her when the ferret died. "You travel to where people are about to die so you can keep them from suffering?[/b]" she said, her brow furrowing slightly. That in itself was very weird. What did he do when he got there there? He clearly wasn't out to stop people from dying.

"I-If you like, you can stay here for a while,[/b]" She offered, ears twitching slightly. She knew that her father had more money than he knew what to do with and Rhiannon could just tell him that she wanted to live here for a while. No one would bother him here, and it would at least give him some place to come back to. "I can try not to get in your way, and keep it stocked with food.[/b]" at the mention of 'food', she felt her stomach twist. How long had she been... dead for?

Her expression went thoughtful for a moment. There was something about all of this that was bothering her. Of course, it all seemed rather mundane when she considered what had just happened to her, but she just couldn't think about that. Not yet, probably not ever. "Can I get you something to eat or drink?[/b]" she said in a soft sort of voice, still thinking about her earlier mention of food. There were some things a non-fruitivore would like to eat in the house, she was sure.

[The Jenn]

Lior nodded at her assessment of the situation. "Whenever they're dying or freshly dead, actually, and it seems to only be within a certain distance of where I was at the time. I'm not really sure what that distance is yet, since it's hard for me to keep track of it when I go... 'off' like that, but I'll never end up outside of the city while I'm here. I tried going somewhere else once. It ended horribly." If only he hadn't ended up following the string of deaths by that sick, diseased man, everything might have ended up so much better.

He looked taken aback when she offered him a place to stay, staring at her with wide, confused eyes as if trying to see the hidden catch. "...why would you want me in your home?" he asked slowly, trying to make sense of it all. "I killed you. Even if you were going to die anyway, I... my claws were covered in blood when I came out of the state I was in." And I chewed off a piece of your wing, he thought silently, shivering at the memory of the sensations that had flooded through him.

Food he couldn't refuse, not with his stomach twisting in on itself in hunger. He hadn't gotten anything to eat in nearly a day since her death, and another one besides. Even then, it had only been scraps and near-garbage. "I would eat anything you put in front of me," he admitted quietly, looking down at the floor.

[carcinoGeneticist]

So he would also travel to the location of the freshly-dead. That was more information, but it didn't really seem to change anything that big. It just meant that he wasn't finishing all of those he encountered off. But if that was the case, what was he doing while he was there? That was very strange. Her ears twitched slightly, and she gave the feline a small nod. "So you don't even think you could go home if you wanted to?[/b]" she wasn't going to ask any more about why he was so adamant about not returning to his family. She had run away once, and she'd felt that her reasons for it were damn good - who was she to judge another's reasons for doing the same thing?

The woman raised yellow eyes to Lior, but said nothing in response, jumping off the chair and walking into the kitchen. Her tail drooped slightly as she considered his response. She didn't know why, but for some reason she had hoped that she could do something more for him. She opened the refridgerator, letting out a short, bark-like laugh when she looked at what was inside. A cantelope and an old beer. Perhaps there was something in the drawers...

In a few minutes, Rhiannon had managed to find some lunch meat and some cheese, throwing together a sandwich for her guest and bringing it in to him, keeping the melon for herself. She climbed up into the seat that he was in, lightly bumping her side against his, hoping to give him at least a little comfort. "I won't deny it, you did kill me.[/b]" she said, voice soft as if she was insure of what she was saying. It was hard to believe - After all, she seemed to be extremely alive right now. A part of her nagged at the back of her head, telling her she should even thank him for that - she had seen Death and come back from the other side. That made her special, to be sure. "...But you brought me back. And that is worthy of thanks. I owe you my life, after all.[/b]" she licked his cheek softly, a little shyly, a weak smile crossing her muzzle.

He'd better not protest this. She didn't care to tell him about the fear she'd felt while she was... dead, just the joy that she experienced at being alive.

[The Jenn]

Lior's head hunched even lower, thoughts of his family covered over by a fuzzy film of pained memories. "I could probably return, but I don't think it would be a good idea and I would do nothing but live off of their charity and cause them undue stress." Never mind the fact that his uncle was probably worried, and his half-sister Viola had already seen him and started bawling. That had hurt, to cause her that pain and stress on top of everything else.

He waited while she made noises in the kitchen, eventually curling up on his chair in a worried ball of skinny feline with his wings half-tucked over his body and beneath the cloak. The joint of her wing-thumb pressed against his chest in this position and his thoughts drifted on the matter until she came back with a sandwich. He slowly uncurled, eyes only for the food at first until she brushed against him. Blinking in surprise at the contact, he looked over at her and cringed a little at the first words. Was she going to decide to rescind her offer? He would understand, and even expect it after everything that had happened and all the strangeness he had just inadvertently brought into her life. The thought of having someplace to lvie again that wasn't a random box in an alley or a spot on a park bench had been a terribly pleasant fantasy, though...

His thoughts moved too far ahead of him and he was brought firmly back to reality by the end of her statement, and the lick that followed. His eyes were wide and confused, and it lent his thin, exhausted face a very waifish look. His cold aura was present, as ever, but she had probably begun to 'acclimate' to it and bend her mind around the weird from continued proximity. "I don't know what to say," he admitted in a lost voice, watching her. He'd even forgotten temporarily about the food, the churning in his gut familiar enough to be ignored in the face of this unexpected kindness. "I'm... so glad I was able to bring you back. I don't know how and I've never done that before, but I just got this sense of being able to do it. I didn't want your death on my conscience, and if it has to be, at least your life is there as well."

[carcinoGeneticist]

Rhiannon was not one who often found herself in this sort of position. She had been the one who needed comforting all too often, but this was the first time she had found herself working hard to try and make someone else feel better about their situation. She had to admit to herself that his situation really sucked. So she didn't try to say anything else, just continued to lean against him, extending one wing over him. Sometimes words weren't what a person needed. Sometimes they just needed to feel less alone.

She didn't seem to notice her lack of thumb just yet, which was almost certainly a good thing. Who knew how she would react to that?

Rhiannon grinned again at Lior, a little more open this time. "You don't need to say anything, Lior. You don't need to feel sorry for what you did.[/b]" she assured him, guessing at what the best thing to say to the situation would be. Perhaps another day she would feel anger with him, or fear. Today, she just felt gratitude for even being alive, something she had long put to the test and taken for granted. "Your intentions were always good - You kept me from suffering what would have been a horrible and perminent death.[/b]" she licked his cheek again, a little softer.

He looked so lost with that look on his face. She wanted to take it off, and see him smile. Something in the back of her mind warned her not to expect too much, but she could hope. Hope was a funny thing for Rhiannon. "My offer still stands, Lior. The one thing is that you'll need to tolerate my being around for another week or so before I head back to the court. [/b]" her ears twitched, then flattened. "And if you don't want me to, I won't tell anyone where you are.[/b]"

[The Jenn]

The light pressure of a wing around his shoulders, wings and cloak included, was an unfamiliar but oddly comforting sensation. No one else in his family had wings like his and his father had certainly never given him a feathery wing-hug before. The very thought of it was laughable, except it wasn't because thinking of his father and what happened afterwards was always painful. He had a hard time letting go of guilt, a very hard time.

Her words were almost like a balm to his bruised sense of self. Her death had been one more guilt piled on top of an already heaping pile, some of it justifiable and some not, but she seemed quite set on making it go away. His sister had been a lot like that, before she... before everything happened. She always went too far, though. Her arguments were too much. Rhiannon's made sense without shoving it in his face and he appreciated that. The lick made his ears twitch, sitting at an odd, uncertain angle.

She was still willing to offer him a place to stay. That alone was so kind and unwarranted on her part that he would go so far as to call it miraculous. He could feel the sincerity in her words, thanks to his ever-active King's ability. "If you're still willing to offer it after everything I've said and done, well... I very gratefully accept. I would also appreciate your silence on my behalf in the Courts. I just couldn't face anyone right now, not as I am." However that was.

His nose caught the scent of the sandwich once again and he inadvertently raised it, sniffing. Real food, without a trace of turning into something less edible. It smelled fantastic, and even better for the fact that it was for him and he could eat it without repercussion. "May I...?" he queried almost pleadingly, tilting his head to indicate the sandwich.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Rhiannon could see that she had finally managed to do something right. She wasn't sure if it was the somewhat awkward wing-hug or her botched words, but Lior seemed to somehow relax. It certainly wasn't a big change, but it was enough of one that she felt herself relax slightly as well, feeling comforted by the comfort that she had somehow managed to provide. She smiled at him, her first really true smile since they'd finally stopped to talk, and her entire face lit up with it. "Oh! Of course,[/b]" She moved ever so slightly to the side, giving him room to eat his sandwich, and then dug into her own meal.

~*Timeskip which represents fun and exciting things which happened off-board *~

It had been some time since Rhiannon had last climbed the stairs to the apartment, but she did so now despite the shaking in her legs. Her condition had been... diagnosed several days earlier, and she had needed all the time she could get to try and clear her mind before meeting with Lior. After all, with the dates that Temmin had given her, the Highland feline could be the only source of said condition. She knew that she needed to talk to him, but suits! She was terrified! She could only imagine how he would feel with the news, so she carried with her a large cloth bag filled with groceries.

When the hybrid reached the door, she hesitated slightly before knocking. A part of her felt eager at seeing the man again, for reasons that she really wasn't sure of herself. What would he think of the red J shining on her chest? Would he notice? Would he be proud? And what of her pregnancy? That was a subject of worry.

All the same, she raised a paw, rapping her claws against the door and sitting back to wait. If he wasn't in now, she was certain that he'd be back soon enough.

[The Jenn]

Lior wasn't in the apartment, but he was on his way back and arrived only seven or eight minutes after Rhiannon arrived. He looked tired from what he'd just seen, an old man dead in a hospice bed with his daughter and grandchildren around him. It was a better death than many could hope for and left him feeling oddly cheerful on the inside. People had cared about the old wolf - his death had mattered to them. It was unfortunate that Lior's presence had scared them so badly.

When he got nearer to the apartment, he saw the winged coyote sitting outside the door with a bag next to her, waiting. It had been a fifteen-minute walk to and from the hospice room and he had unnerved more than a few passerby on the way. He smiled when he saw her, walking up to give her an affectionate nudge along her jaw. He really had come to care for her in the few months he'd been staying at the apartment and he looked forward to her visits. The company was always so welcome, someone who genuinely liked him as a person even though she really had no reason to do so. Those were thoughts for another day, though.

"I'm sorry I was out," he offered with a tired smile. "Called away, but this time it was nicer. Calmer, anyway. Kind of touching." In his reaper state, he was unable to remember to lock the door and looked sheepish when he reached up his paw to open it.

[carcinoGeneticist]

At the sound of footsteps, Rhiannon stirred, turning to look down the stairs. She smiled despite herself when she saw Lior at the base of the steps, and at the way that his expression seemed to lighten as soon as he saw her waiting there. She had missed him the last few weeks, but her home life had been rather... complicated, making it hard for her to escape to the capital to spend time with him.

She was happily surprised by his affectionate greeting, and moved against him, her tail wagging a little uneasily. She tucked her long snout against his neck, leafy nose twitching against his fur as she gave him the smallest of kisses at the base of his ear. She was.. truely happy to see him.

"That's fine,[/b]" she said, smiling at him. She did understand that he had no control over when he left, she was just happy that he returned to the apartment once he returned to himself. She was also glad to hear that there had been a slightly more peaceful death for the man. Too many violent traumas just... couldn't be good for him. "I'm sorry I haven't been by in a while.. I brought some more food.[/b]" she picked up the bag, walking into the apartment with him, hesitating inside the doorway.