Simple Solutions [Rhi!] [M]

[Draconian]

Raizel was quick to tuck the key into a little secret bottom if a flower pot by the window before she listened to Cadmus fully.

It should have been a surprise, but it just felt like a puzzle piece snapping into place to finish more of a picture. While the news of 'I knew it was you' brought a weight to her chest, the following 'I didn't want to believe it' gave it meaning. Would he have been disappointed if it hadn't been her? Raizel shifted her own cloak and gave him a sidelong glance, saw him looking at her ankle.

"Cadmus," she said softly, taking his hand and while still going in the correct general direction, led him into the night-shadow of a building where she stood against a wall. "If you had come to me first while tracking me, while I was running away, do you really think I would have trusted you?" the leading answer was 'no, of course not'. It was a lie though and she knew it. Raizel would have trusted him immediately and not questioned it. "We slept together like... two times." She added dismissively, obviously she wasn't going to trust someone she barely knew. That was dumb.

She let go of his hand and pressed her hands to his shoulders, giving them a squeeze before she cupped his face, her hands rough and warm with an odd delicateness to her touch on his cheeks. "I trust you now because things went so badly for me and you came through. You helped me. Then you even let me straddle and stab you a little bit," Raizel let her hands fall to her sides and she gave a little shrug and tucked some loose hair behind her ear.

"If you can forgive me dreamstabbing you, I can forgive you wanting to see me so badly you thought you were daydreaming my scent, deal?" She winked at him before tapping his chest with her knuckles as she made to begin walking again.

[Rhindeer]

...That was a stellar point.

No, she probably wouldn't have trusted him in that scenario. Anybody with a brain and trust issues would suspect he was trying to lure them, not save them. Cadmus raised his eyes back to Raizel's, her hand warm in his, and felt some of the guilt drip away. Not much of it, it would be gnawing at his guts plenty, but it was enough to soften the edge.

Her hands found his shoulders, then cupped his cheeks, and he couldn't help but lean into her touch, just a little, as her warm hands stung against his cooler skin. Her logic was...well, it worked for their situation, he supposed, as long he didn't point out that he'd helped her out of a situation he had caused. But he kept that to himself. She was in a forgiving mood and she was also smart enough to know it, anyway.

Then came the straddle and stab comment, and daydreaming her scent? Gods. That got a soft snort-laugh out of him and a roll of his eyes. "I don't know that I let you, but sure. I stalked you, you stabbed me, it seems fair enough to call it even, so--deal. I forgive you, attempted murder and all. As for you?"

He lightly bumped his shoulder against hers. "What can I say? You smell nice."

With a sidelong glance at her and a little smile, he took off ahead of her. He didn't really know the way to the brewery from here, at least not by sight. He had been so focused on getting them the hell away that he hadn't paid attention to what alleys he'd cut through, or where Raizel had lead them once they were safe. But memory was linked so intimately to scent, and his sense of smell so strong, that he could find his way back with his eyes closed. It hadn't rained and their own scent-trail was still fresh, if faded, so all it would take was a little backtracking.