I forgot my Diet Pepsi. :c ?!

[Anonymous]

The pillow was achingly comfortable beneath his head, a cherished retreat after a long day of training. Since Rath had met the odd shadow girl, whose image had never failed to jump to the forefront of his mind all day, he'd had to ride through the daylight back to Arca and faced training twice as arduous for his tardiness. Stretching luxuriously, Rath heard the vertebrae of his spine snapping and cracking into place from their tensed position. It wasn't easy going hand-to-hand, face-to-face with the Infantry Commander, and physical training? To him, it was the worst. He'd much rather summon shadow fiends or cast spells than lug around a huge, sharpened slab of metal.

Speaking of swords... Rath craned his head to the side, eying the mysterious weapon propped up by the fireplace, along with the jacket draped around it. She'd left her things with him, so perhaps that's why he'd had the sudden urge to leave the base and head back towards the Port of Cerenis, trot around the woods all through the twilight, listening for her voice and scouting for any signs of her. But it was for naught, and since he was so frayed and worn, he'd taken to a nearby inn tucked deep into the valley, nuzzled between two imposing mountains. They'd been kind enough - Mageknights could typically pass out where ever they pleased, and the citizens of Serendipity tended to have open doors for their military. So here he found himself, collapsed on a mound of hay bound with sheets as a make-shift mattress for the poor, still donned in his light armor.

He buried his head deeper into the pillow filled with goose down, and sneezed abruptly at the dust he was rewarded with. "Fffff...." Rath cursed silently, fisting his hands in the pillow and rolling about to straddle the lumpy mattress on his belly. He wanted to sleep, truly he did, but he couldn't stop thinking about her. Why had she left her things with him? Furthermore, why hadn't he turned them all in? He'd had so many opportunity to tell his Lord Knight Commander what had transpired, had all of the time in the world to break her sword, destroy her soul, and end this problem before it started. But he hadn't! He hadn't breathed a word of her to anyone, but instead clashed viciously with his training mates all day to vent the frustration of his apparent disloyalty to his duties because of some stupid, stupid girl!

He wished he could have found her. It was dark, wasn't it?! Why couldn't she just take her belongings back?! Rath huffed, squirming restlessly in the bed, one leg hung over the too-short bed and dragging the steel-lining of his boot against the dirt floor. He'd just about had it with her, and if he ever found her again... if he ever! The thoughts hesitated as he drifted in and out of consciousness, sleep finally taking him down in her clutches.

And damn him if he wasn't dreaming about her, too.

[Anonymous]

Wandering without a purpose......
It was....lovely...but...somehow...
empty.

These were the musings of a figure within the darkness of the night. A small amount of blood seeped from a cut on her forearm. To her, it was nothing to worry about. Most people at this hour were sleeping. But she was not tired. Her eyes darted left and right in an alert manner. Looking up at the Inn, she sighed lightly. Knowing the man who she was searching for was within, she planned carefully in her mind the manner in which she would enter his room. Rath was his name. That man....the man who currently was in posession of her soul and jacket, was within that room. She knew that this man within knew not where she was, who she was. He did not even know her name. The woman of shadow, named Shadow, carefuly took a step towards the inn. Rath had been in her mind, a thought, but not a bad one. Somehow, she knew that he wouldn't have tried to destroy her sword, destroy her. A twig cracked beneath her light step. A man standing alone nearby turned his head, only to find nothing there.

What seemed to be a simple shadow shifted and became the woman from outside. Shadow found Rath on his bed in a restless sleep. She tilted her head slightly to the side. What an interesting man, sleeping in his fighing clothes. It seemed like he had gone out like a smothered candle flame after his daily activites. Walking towards the bed without a single noise, she kneeled beside him. She held her breath for a moment, studying him. She wondered if she had been in his thoughts as well, inside that restless mind. Shadow leaned down, her fingers briefly brushing against his arm. She whispered into his ear, her breath caressing his face. "Hello, Rath..."

[Anonymous]

If memory served correctly - given that Rath had been awake all of yesterday, hadn't found time to sleep between his scouting mission the previous night, training all day, and searching for the damned girl for half of this night -, he hadn't slept for nearly fourty-eight hours. For a faerie, or some other magically endowed creature, this might be a bat of an eyelash. For a human like Rath, this was an eternity to go without rest. By the time Shadow was in his room, invading and standing over him, he was out for the count. He might've snapped to attention at the sheer touch of magic in his room if not for the circumstances, but for tonight, he hadn't stirred awake until she was already whispering into his ear.

The striking contrast of hot breath to cold flesh had Rath blinking awake, recovering from his dreamless sleep enough to regard the small body standing next to his with half-lidded eyes. The immediate response to this development was to reach across the bed and rake the girl in closer, or at least it was in the fleeting moments of his slumber-induced trance; by the time his hand was latched onto the girl's shoulder, the spell had been broken, and realization dawned like ... well, like being pelted in the face with a brick.

"You!" He shouted needlessly, releasing her from his grip so that he might immediately retreat in the opposite direction. Detangling himself from the bed was the first necessary obstacle, picking his way out of the mess of sheets he'd managed to wind all about his body in sleep, some of which had been snagged in between the plates of his armor. "Sneaky bitch. What are you doing in my room? Where did you go last night?" Rath seemed flustered, blushing hotly as he dragged his claws hastily through any bed linens that dared to hang on to him. "You just disappeared."

[Anonymous]

Shadow slightly arched an eyebrow at the hand suddenly on her shoulder, but it was removed just as quickly as it was placed there. Having a very hard time not smirking at his problem with getting out of the bed. The sheets were winning for the most part. The corners of her mouth turned upward into a slight amused smile. She was glad that she had come to see him, and that he had not forgotten about her at all. After all, he was so.....amusing. But irritating at the same time. Ah, men.

She put a finger to her lips. "So loud...." Shadow chuckled a little. She shook her head. "Ah, so many little questions. Well, what am I doing here? I don't know, you can guess about that yourself." She stood, walked over to the fire, and sat in front of it. She said, "Where I went? I don't think you need to know that. And as for the dissapearing, I do it all the time." The next moment his eyes were off her for an instant, she dissapeared, quite litterally, and what was once a shadow in the corner of the room materialized into her form. She said, sitting in the darkness with her eyes glittering with amusement, "And I have a question for you, Rath. Why is a nice portion of your face the color of a tomato?" Shadow was finding much amusement in this.

[Anonymous]

His eyes snapped wide, dark brows furrowing in alarm at the fluttery sensation of her finger against his lips. She had a point - it would do him no good to rouse the innkeepers and stir terror in them -, but he still flopped back on the bed, appalled with her, and swipped emptily in her direction with five wickedly sharp claws. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand even, his jet black hair slanted over his face to hide his disturbed expression as he went about erasing any trace of her from his lips. "Your answers suck." He clarified when she was done melding across the room, his body tense with apprehension and uncertainty, "And you can't just touch me without asking. I don't care what kind of shitty assassin you claim to be."

In the face of her mirth, whose existence was punctuated by his post-sleep terrible mood, Rath glowered menacingly at her through his kohl-lined steel eyes. "Trying to piss me off?" He drawled, prickling like a vexed cat as he tapped each claw against the face of his armor... then froze immediately with the knowledge that he was indeed still decked with the silvery blue of his country's blood. At least he wasn't sleeping naked, right? The imagery of that hypothetical and dastardly scene made him growl harder, the sound an escalating and rumbling ambience as he spoke in mocking tones, "A tomato? I don't know, you can guess about that yourself. And stop fucking smiling, it isn't funny."

[Anonymous]

Shadow crossed her arms, looking a bit more annoyed than before but amused still. His mood was just terrible, but she had been confronted with worse. He apparently hadn't slept in a while. What a pity. Shadow thought to herself that she should have visited him at a more reasonable hour, but then ignored that thought. She had already come here. She was likely to come at a later date also, unless she had a reason to stay for longer....ah, it didn't matter.

 She said, "Actually, you're making yourself angry at something that isn't that much of a big deal. Do you see me getting all worked up about your answers?" She shook her head, clicking her tounge. "'Grr, Grr to you too. My my, what a child you are! And here I thought I had found someone respectable." She nudged his arm, lazily pulling it away in a manner that showed she was not afraid of him. With a smirk, she added, "You don't even know my name, Rath."