Day 32: Sun Room (2nd shift)

[heraldric.livejournal.com]

After the couple glasses of water Leon managed to gulp down during breakfast, the mage felt immensely better. He was still a bit tired, but that was nothing a little lounging on one of the sofas wouldn't cure. Stretching his arms above his head, he couldn't help but wish he'd had the chance to grab one of his new doctor's coats before leaving his room that morning. Maybe they would have let him get away with wearing it. Maybe.

He grabbed an empty sofa, pulling out the journal he tried to keep on him at all times. It was nearly complete now. Just a couple more pages to go. It might not improve his spellcasting that much, but any improvement was better than none. It was getting to where it might be too dangerous for him to use spells at all, if it left him so worn out without even finishing a monster off.

Comments

[boot-i-licious.livejournal.com]

"I know," Rinali said, the smile returning. "And while I don't like that you hate him, I can't change your mind. The only person who can really do it is you and Allen. I'd like the two of you to be friends, or at least not hate each other so much. I'm glad that you apologized for your behavior yesterday. It means a lot to me that you're willing to admit fault." She giggled slightly. "Most nobles I've met seem to think they're perfect."

[idolism]

He laughed a little weakly, unsure if she were actually being serious about this. "Funny, we see that a lot more in the regular people..."

Aidou still didn’t know what to say about her sounding so grateful for his apology, probably because his feelings towards being guilty and thereby admitting to poor behavior were muddled. Rinali’s reaction did nothing to relieve it; it was almost as if he were wary of acknowledging her response, just because it made him seem like he were acting the part of a mature aristocrat.

And that hadn’t been the case last night, far from it.

"Friends, you say," Aidou mumbled absently, looking down again, this time in partial thought. Everyone threw that term around so lightly. Friendship with someone could only be born out of respect, and with Allen Walker, that was virtually impossible. Aidou wasn‘t perfect, no, but he shuddered to think how he could possibly befriend the majority of people in this place, running around with no morals or reasons to think twice. "You’re very... generous, Rinali-chan. I don’t really see how, though. Disrespect and foolishness are things I don’t look kindly on."

[boot-i-licious.livejournal.com]

Rinali's smile faded at Aidou's last words. There was no hostility in her gaze, but she took the affront to her friend seriously. "Allen can be foolish at times, but I've never known him to be disrespectful. He may not always make the best choices, but he does what he does out of a deep compassion for everyone."

She touched her forehead with the tips of her fingers and closed her eyes. "I'm not asking that you ignore things about him that bother you, but it would mean a lot to me if you at least gave him a second chance. He has a lot of redeeming traits, and maybe you just happened to see the worst of him."

She wasn't going to lie to him, or to herself. She knew Allen had a lot of problems, but she also knew of all the things he did that were good, kind, and genuine. "If you still don't think you can get along with him, I'll understand."

[idolism]

"These sorts of situations make one’s weaknesses blatantly obvious," replied Aidou. The comment was a double-edged blade, he knew. If she truly wanted to discuss her friend, however... "And I’m afraid I saw something different. During the time I spoke with him, I broached a topic that would have been beneficial to me and others and he was too wrapped up in himself to cooperate. Specifics aside, that sort of thing is in bad form."

The vampire shrugged, even expression making it clear he wasn’t lingering on the fact. It was in the past, and although Aidou wouldn’t forget, he wasn’t immature enough to cling to vendettas of that measure.

"All of that said... I’m not sure why you seem so worried about it. If you’re afraid I wouldn’t be able to cooperate with him on a professional basis...?"

The amount of value Rinali seemed to be putting on the entire thing, from friendship to second chances, drew reluctant curiosity from him. And a little puzzlement. It wasn’t even like she and Aidou were friends... yet she spoke with such gravity. This entire conversation had been weird from the start.

[boot-i-licious.livejournal.com]

Rinali frowned at Aidou's reply. "That doesn't sound like Allen at all," she answered. "I'll have to talk with him about it, maybe he had a good reason for being quiet." Or maybe he didn't. Allen sometimes surprised her, after all.

"Well," Rinali said in response to Aidou's question. "You said you wanted to be friends with me. It just makes me happy when my friends get along with one another, and if we become friends, I wouldn't want to have to choose who to spend time with, you or Allen, when I could spend time with both of you. Maybe it's a little selfish of me..."

[idolism]

If Aidou had been a typical teenager, he might’ve been thinking ‘What is this, eighth grade?’ at her suggestion to have a talk with her little friend. But since he wasn’t, and had never been at a level of education that could be called immature, he could only say it sounded infinitely juvenile to him. But today he was still feeling the sting of a lesson learned, so he did the aristocratic thing, and made a practiced, noncommittal gesture that could be interpreted favourably.

Whatever. Allen could blab about the details all he wanted; Aidou had said he would take care of it himself, and he was. He had nothing to apologize for.

“Mmm, that’s a nice sentiment I don’t hear much of. It’s sweet,” the vampire replied almost thoughtfully, with a more even, warm tone than before. He sounded more collected when he was focussed on the façade of there and now. And it wasn’t like he was totally putting on a show for her--it was true that a noble could have strict divisions between friend and foe, making an acquaintance of someone only to be dead set against their twin sister or something. It happened a lot. The Night Class was a prime example of mixed politics under one roof. Getting chummy with the friend of a friend was more of a mushy human thing. But this was the part where Aidou had a chance of stumbling: “No, it’s not that selfish… I think you really do care about your friends a lot. So I hope we see more of each other… Maybe bring Allen next time, then? We can talk. I was just a little tired today.”

There, that didn’t touch much on deep feelings, but it didn’t dissuade her from becoming a regular fan. And the idea of making Allen suffer, even a little, brightened Aidou a little, even if “next time” wouldn’t be as aimless as yesterday. They could exchange information or something like it.