[PP-F11] A Valentine's Breakfast Teion and Hestia (Tunnel of Love)

[Ryo 0]

Ryo nodded as Teion reached to a wish to settle upon. "Perfect." Ryo said, smiling back up at the stars. "Glad I could be of help." Ryo said, chuckling to himself. How long had the two been here together? I felt like only moments. Again, the two lied down in silence, before Teion broke it yet again. Asking him his favorite color. Ryo chuckled. "What brought that kind of question?" He asked, not needing to know the answer. He pondered it for a moment, thinking of all the things that he used to own before he was trapped. There was a lot of purple items. But also a bit of yellow. The golds and yellows brought out his eyes. Something about that color he just enjoyed. "Yellow." He said, reaching the conclusion. "I own a lot of dark clothing. And I feel like Yellow brings out my eyes more, so I wore that often as an accessory." He said, explaining his reasoning. He turned his head to Teion. "What about you? What's your favorite color?" He asked.

[Teion 0]

Teion's shoulders raised into a shrug, not planning to provide him with an answer. A few moments of silence followed before he gave an answer that slightly surprised her. She let out another soft, thoughtful hum and turned to face him, meeting his gaze after he had done the same. She studied him for a second, delaying her own answer while she focused on the magenta shade of his avatar's eyes. They both had altered hair colors, of course, but she voiced her curiosity rather quickly after his explanation. "Are your eyes normally that color?"

After a few seconds of distraction from her answer to her own question, her eyes shifted to the side where they landed on a section of long violet hair that lay across the grass beside her. "Ehh, almost thought yours would be as obvious as mine. Purple." Her answer was simple and followed by a short chuckle.

[Ryo 0]

Ryo chuckled alongside Teion. That was a nice feeling. Sure she let out scoffs of air that were seen as laughs, or the offside smirk, but an actual chuckle. It was nice. She was nice. The way she spoke, the way she moved, the way she looked at him, everything about her was just, wonderful. Ryo smirked. "I was going to guess purple, but it just seemed so obvious that I had to guess Green. Or was it Blue, that I was thinking about?" He said, playing with the woman. "And yes, my eyes are naturally this color. Though, I think the game took some creative liberties with them. Normally, they're more hazel or goldenrod." He said, looking into her eyes. The shone in the night air, just like the stars above in the night sky. "Say, I've been meaning to ask you. You don't look, Japanese. So how is it that you're speaking it so fluently?" Ryo asked, curious.

[Teion 0]

"Heh, tricked 'ya." She joked back, her focus turning back to survey the color of his eyes once more with the new information he provided. A short but not unwelcome silence fell, and then it was his turn to break it again with a question of his own. This one, however, only served to confuse the woman. "Huh?" She asked, the side of her head grazing lightly against the grass as her head gave a natural tilt. "What are you talking about?" She questioned, still-bent knees falling to the side when she shifted her hips to more properly face the man beside her. Teion propped herself up on her elbow, a brow still turned up in confusion on her face. "I mean, no, I'm not Japanese. But what do you mean, speaking it?" She asked.

A few moments into the odd shift in topic, Teion's hand pulled up to summon her menus. She scrolled over to a short list of general settings, her eyes glossing over the greyed-out rectangle that read 'Log Out' at the bottom of the list. Instead, she opened up an Options menu and found a small area that read 'Language Select'. Of course English was selected, as she recalled doing so for a short drop-down list that day when she had first entered the game so long ago. But a small option caught her eye sitting just below it. Brows narrowed as she read the words 'Auto-Translate', and a curious finger poked at the small checkbox that lay beside it to deselect the option.

[Ryo 0]

Ryo looked at Teion, then chuckled. "I see, it's a small joke. I got it." He said, before opening his menu, mimicking Teion. And sure enough, there was the option to turn off the auto-translate. He kept his own on for the time being and looked up at Teion who had pressed an option key. "Anata wa anata o ofu ni shimashita ka?" Ryo asked, unsure of what Teion had done. He looked at his own, then back to Teion. Perhaps, she did turn hers off. The bemused face she gave made that all clear. Ryo snickered. "Dakara, kore wa dō yatte anata ni hibiku nodesu ka?" He asked, before laughing again. "Sōdesu, anata wa ima watashi o rikai dekimasen." Ryo chuckled again before looking at Teion with a warm expression. "Teon, watashi wa anata to issho ni kono yoru o tanoshinde kitashi, korera no koto o motto anata to kyōyū shitai" He said, sincerely looking into her eyes before quickly looking down at the ground again. "Daijōbu, you can turn it back on now." Ryo said, laughing as his voice was translated back into English once more. "You can understand me now, yeah?" He asked, looking at Teion.

[Teion 0]

Her brows narrowed in mild irritation as Ryo seemed to think her reaction was insincere. She had pressed the option to disable some sort of auto-translating feature, and when Ryo next went to speak the woman blinked in momentary disbelief. She stared blankly at the man as he began speaking fluidly in a language that she recognized, but struggled and quickly failed to understand. Her expression gradually shifted from amazement to confusion to slight frustration as what little she knew of the Eastern language did nothing to help her decipher Ryo's fluent speaking.

But as she continued to look back at him, she caught the change in his features. More specifically, the way he looked at her seemed to change somehow. Her eyes locked with his as she clearly recognized her own username, and though she couldn't understand the warm sentiment she couldn't seem to bring herself to look away until he had broken the eye contact first. She quickly shifted her focus back to the floating menu in front of her, and re-selected the option that caused Ryo's words to make sense to her again. She blinked as it seemed to kick in part of the way through his sentence, and she was left with a weird mixture of emotions, as if she didn't know which way to react first. "Alright, one, what the hell." Her brain finished piecing together exactly how the setting must be working, and she shoved her train of thought onto a stray track. "And--so wait, it just sounds like I'm speaking in Japanese to you? Like, perfectly?" Her brows then narrowed while she stared at the man with an increasing suspicion. "And what did you say a minute ago?"

[Ryo 0]

Ryo rubbed his temple. It was a decent feature, the auto-translate, nonetheless. But disabling it caused all sorts of issues it would seem. Teion really did seem not to understand a word he said. The looks on her face were priceless though. A mixture of confusion, and trying to understand. He could have admitted to anything, and she wouldn't have been the wiser. He could've told her the real reason of how he knew Piera, and she wouldn't have known. He sighed, before smirking at the woman as she asked her question. "Yeah. Right now you're speaking Japanese. Almost like as if you have been speaking it your entire life." He admitted. He raised a hand defensively. "Nothing horrible I assure you. Merely said that I've been enjoying our evening together. That's all." He said going back to lie down and look at the stars, and the visible nebula in the sky. He had meant it as well. He could see himself coming back to this spot regularly, even without Teion. He sat up shortly after, holding a hand down to the woman. "As enjoyable as this was, I believe that the party calls." Ryo said, not wanting to be too late to the party.

[Teion 0]

Still propped up on her side, Teion let out a small puff of air in an amused half-chuckle. "Well that's...useful." She referred to the game's language features, leaning back to hold herself up with both elbows as she looked back up to the sky. "I tried studying Japanese for a while, but...as with most things, I didn't stick with it." She admitted with a disappointed shrug. She cast Ryo a sidelong glance, thinking of one last question on the subject fresh in her mind. "And so I don't suppose you know much English?" She assumed, almost wishing she had the opportunity to confuse and tease the man herself with a language he didn't understand.

"Yeah. It's been nice." A short time later, Ryo sat up and offered her a hand, to which she gave a small smirk. She had forgotten all about the party--this Masquerade Ball that she had agreed to attend. With how uncomfortable she anticipated she would feel among the crowd, she was tempted to suggest that they just...not go. Just laying here in the fields of flowers under the clear night sky sounded so pleasant. Though she didn't let it show, Teion felt a twinge of sadness from not being able to stay put, and came to terms with her earlier agreement.

The pair would arrive back in Taft, and as Teion stepped away from the teleport gate, her eyes flickered up towards the sky. It was painted with a mixture of orange and pink hues, signaling the threat of the sun's disappearance behind the farthest landscape of the eleventh floor. "Is it... What time even is it?" She mumbled to herself. When they had left the European-styled city it was early morning, maybe noon at worst, but now twilight seemed promising before much longer.

[Ryo 0]

Ryo looked back at Teion to answer her question. "I actually learned a bit. School taught me, a little bit. What I needed to know at least." Ryo admitted. "Though only a little bit of it stuck." He said, giving the woman a wink. He would've liked to skip the party, stay and enjoy the stargazing more. But there would be more stargazing. "We should come back to here soon. Enjoy the stars some more." He said, smiling at the woman.

Ryo looked at the scene set before him. There was, no way they were gone all day. How long had they been gone? He opened his menu, looking at the time stamp for the floor. He shook his head. "Well, we're gonna miss it." He said, closing his menu. "There's no way we can make it there in time. It started about an hour or so ago. Maybe early if there was a big enough line." Ryo said, frustrated. He thought for a second, before coming to a realization. "Screw it. Let's go anyway. We may have just enough time to get there before the festivities end." He said, making his way to the event.

[Teion 0]

A hand traveled upwards to the nape of Teion's neck. While she wouldn't be devastated if they didn't end up going to the Valentine's party, the thought that they had come back only to miss it was a bit disappointing. She shifted her weight as she stood on the cobblestone streets of the city while Ryo vented his frustration over the poor timing--or rather, the confusing behavior of it. She looked over to the man when he suggested they go anyway and started off in the direction of the festivities. A brow rose slightly over her eye, but she wasn't going to argue. "Oh uhh, sure." She gave a small shrug, her feet beginning to carry her along after him. "Guess we might as well go check it out."

The two arrived at the front entrance to the grandiose building that housed the Valentine's Masquerade Ball, but as the large set of double-doors swung open it became very clear that the party was over and done with. As the game likely took care of cleaning up after itself in an instant in the very few and far-between instances it might have to, it was unclear exactly how much time had passed since the players in attendance had left. But despite the vacant room and the absence of the music, chatter, and other noise that the ball would have had echoing off its walls, Teion fingers loosely wrapped around her opposite hand behind her back and she continued inside. She took quick steps down the set of stairs that led from the front entrance to the main ballroom, her neck craning as she took in the sight of the area that was still decorated for the occasion. "Ooh, I'm kind of surprised we're even still allowed in here." She commented, either unbothered or choosing not to draw attention to the fact that they had indeed missed out on the revelry. She took long strides across the polished marble floor, spinning herself around once as she walked while she continued to survey the area. "It almost feels like...being at school after hours." She paused for just a second while she searched for a comparison, a tiny smile pulling at her expression as she spoke.

[Ryo 0]

Ryo's heart sank as the pair approached the now empty dance hall. Not a soul was in sight. No NPC's, no players, no anything. His steps echoed as they tapped against the marble. He too was surprised by the fact that they were just allowed in. "I'm not gonna complain. Maybe they left it unlocked for a few days. In case anyone wanted to use it for screenshots or just to explore the place." Ryo suggested as to why the doors were unlocked. Teion made the mention of it being like school after hours, which he knew nothing about. He cleaned the classroom after school, and then either went right home to do homework or went to work. He rubbed his neck. "Yeah, you think so?" He said, agreeing with Teion.

Ryo opened his menu and equipped the suit he wore earlier that day. He cleared his throat as he tied his hair back up. "Madam, may I say that you are much to ill-dressed for such an occasion." He said, giving a fake, snooty laugh as he did. He then held a hand out, waiting for Teion to change into the dress they had bought earlier. Even if they were by themselves, they could still enjoy the party, couldn't they?

[Teion 0]

"Mmhm," She hummed a confirmation, her head turning to take in the bright light of the chandeliers overhead, the brightly-colored banners and tapestries that hung along the walls, and the large windows that allowed what little natural light remained in the city to spill through. "In high school I used to stay late every once in a while with...well, friends of a friend. Lied and said I was going to art club or doing extra work on projects, while we all hung out or hopped the wall to the nearest fast food place." She explained, reminiscing on years prior with a crooked smile. She continued for a second longer, turning back to her original comparison. "But sometimes, going into the stairwells or especially the gym when there was nobody else around...felt a lot like this."

Ryo got her attention by clearing his throat, and she looked over her shoulder. She turned around fully when she caught a glimpse of the man's formal wear, and a hand pulled around from her back to partially cover her mouth as she let out a small laugh from his exaggerated pleasantries. She then took on half a smirk, shaking her head lightly. "Hmm, I guess you're right." She humored him, pulling open her menus and scrolling over to her inventory. In a brief flash of light, the woman's casual attire was replaced by the white-and-blue dress she had worn earlier that day. Retrieving a ribbon from her inventory that matched the color of her eyes, Teion reached behind her neck to pull her violet hair over her shoulder. With practiced motions, her fingers weaved violet sections into a loose braid until she tied it off at the end to lay at the middle of her chest.

Her eyes then landed on Ryo's outstretched hand. It took her a moment to piece together that he was inviting her for a dance, and she didn't know whether she was grateful or just more embarrassed that they it was just the two of them in the ballroom rather than standing amongst a crowd of other players and NPCs. She swallowed as vague, unwanted memories of the last time she had put on a dress and shared a dance with someone came to mind. A nervous chuckle escaped her as she gave in to the silent request, and she stepped forward to cautiously place her hand in Ryo's. "Fair warning, it's been a good year since I've done anything like this."

[Ryo 0]

Ryo blushed as Teion changed into her formal gown. As many times as he would see it, he would still become flustered. The ribbon matching her eyes, the way her steps seem to float above the ground as she stepped. Ryo swallowed his fear, his anxiety, any doubt he may have harbored inside himself to take Teions hand in his own. "It's been about two and a half years for me." He said, taking Teion's grip on his own. The lessons kicked in, and he instinctively pulled Teion in close to him. The many lessons he took, in an attempt to woo women were finally paying off. "Just, follow my lead. I'll guide you." He said, smiling at the woman as he began to move, slowly at first to let teion catch up. His foot moved swiftly, each one barely touching the ground as it did, his back was straight as a board, and his hands rarely moved. It was as if Ryo had turned to stone, yet he was flexible enough for Teion to follow, to lean on, and to follow.

Surprised by the woman's skills Ryo chuckled as they moved. "You're pretty good. Where'd you learn to dance like this?" He asked, curious as to how a woman of Teion's, attitude, would pick up ballroom dancing. It couldn't have been a secret hobby. Could it? Ryo slipped a tiny bit, lost in thought, but was quick to catch himself. "See? Out of practice." He said, continuing his motions as the two covered the court.

[Teion 0]

Although close proximity was a given with the concept of dancing, it still managed to catch Teion off-guard when Ryo pulled her into him. She felt his hand placed upon her waist, and her left naturally moved to rest against his shoulder. On the opposite side, her hand still rested in his hold, and with their sudden closeness her cheeks turned a soft pink upon seeing his smile. Ryo led their waltz, and Teion faltered at first when she failed to properly follow along. She put more of her focus into the movement of her feet, the pattern that the motions took on, and the rhythm of each step in order to get the hang of it. Despite his allusion of being lost to time, her dance partner's skill clearly showed. Distracted with the slight pressure of not wanting to mess up, Teion's attention was pulled more directly to the man across from her when she heard him chuckling.

"Would you believe me if I said I was just a fast learner?" She took on a crooked smile, but let out a soft chuckle of her own a second later. "But, I've always liked stuff like this. In college I finally gave it a try and learned a few things, but uhh...well, y'know." She shrugged it off, the story ending just the same as her attempt to study other languages.

Another half-chuckle escaped her with the minor waver in Ryo's fluid movements, as he claimed to be out of practice. "And yeah, what about you? I wouldn't have taken you for an experienced dancer." She lightly teased the man with a bit of genuine curiosity. "Though now that I think about it, I hardly know any interests of yours, I suppose."

[Ryo 0]

Teions movements quickly caught up with his own. Ryo danced at a steady rate, letting Teion stay caught up with him. Ryo listened as she gave her answer. So, she went to college. That was kind of neat. He wondered what Teion would go to college for. English major, teach some students, maybe art or law? There was just so many things that Teion would be suited for, that he couldn't focus on one. His feet fumbled again, but he quickly recovered. "Funny story. I took it as an elective in senior schooling hoping to be able to either pick up girls or learn enough to impress some at a contest or something like that." Ryo said, still moving with Teion across the ball. "Unfortunately, so many males in my school thought the same thing that we have two elective groups. One with equal men and woman, and mine. With all men." He said, chuckling, remembering the looks on everyone's disappointed faces when they showed up. "A few stayed, and took the course semi-seriously. I mostly ended up dancing with the teacher herself. Not really a fun time, but a memorable one." He said, fondly remembering the moment. Ryo smirked. "You never bothered to ask, but since you're so curious." He began. "I enjoy cooking. Other than that, there's not much else I really go out of my way to do. I enjoy, a lot of things. TV, anime, reading manga, tabletop games, you." He said, smiling softly at her. "Then, of course, there are their things I dislike. Like cooked vegetables, chores, homework, being stalked by a French guy. Those sort of things. I guess I'm just really, bland." He said, shrugging a shoulder. "So, what did you go to college for?" Ryo asked.

[Teion 0]

Teion stifled a laugh after hearing Ryo's tale to explain how he first took up ballroom dancing. "Well, I'm glad the time spent ended up being useful. Even if it's while stuck in a video game. Shame you couldn't have shown off in front of everyone at the party." She offered the sentiment with a small, wry smile. For a second she imagined Ryo, dressed as nicely as he was and dancing as gracefully as he was, among a crowd of others, and the women that he would've surely caught the eyes of. She thought of him, in the center of the ballroom, dancing like this with someone else.

Before the facial features were able to display any of the mixed emotions that were beginning to tug at her deceptively frail heart, Teion instead took on a small smirk of her own. "Huh, guess I knew you better than I thought." She quipped. He went on, and the casual flirt that he slipped in as he listed off some of his interests flustered her for a moment, causing her footing to falter. Her body naturally moved to stabilize herself with the only thing she had available to do so--Ryo himself. She leaned into him while she caught herself, quickly straightening back up and averting her gaze while her cheeks lightly burned with embarrassment.

As they continued to glide along the dance floor, she raised a brow at his question of her schooling. The smirk she wore vanished, and her cobalt eyes drifted off to the side, expression just slightly souring. "Mmm, might as well be undecided. I took one semester away from home for interior design. Then moved back, switched completely to business management, and then more or less dropped out before I officially switched again." The chuckle that she let out was forced, as she was trying to laugh off the string of what she saw as failures that she was less than proud of. "I just focused on work instead. Got a job, got my own place. Weeks just kinda started blending together after that." She shrugged.

[Ryo 0]

Ryo leaned forward into Teion as she fumbled, letting her use him as a steady brace. "Relax some. I shan't let you fall." Ryo said, smiling at her. "But, continue." He said, sorry to have interpreted her. She went on to explain all the courses she took. They ranged from interior design to business management. "A woman of many talents it seems. And, of many interests. I can get that." He said as he smirked at her. Her life sounded similar to his. He went to college for part of a semester but had to go to work when his mother was sick in the hospital. And later was told that she had died long ago and that he was just sending money to his drunkard of a father.

The dance continued, between the two. And they eventually grew silent. Ryo leaned his head down and shook it slightly side to side, erasing the thought from his head. "This is a nice moment. A very nice one." he began, his steps slowing down as he turned the waltz into more of a slow dance. "I really enjoyed tonight with you. And I'm, beyond words to say how I feel that you decided to join me today." Ryo admitted. "And I don't even care that we missed the party, the simple fact of that I was able to spend a moment with you was more than enough to make this day." Ryo said, giving the woman a smile. Any other couple would profess their love for one another, or even embrace for a kiss. But he and Teion weren't a normal couple. Were they even a couple? The thought plagued Ryo's mind for a moment, but it vanished. She already knew of his love towards her, and most likely that it grew stronger and stronger each and every day. And because he loved her, he would respect her. Ryo would only smile at her. He would not profess his love to her, nor would he move in for a kiss to be embraced. He respected the woman enough to not try to force her hand with such a thing.

[Teion 0]

"Ehh, more like...indecisive, and impressionable." She admitted with another half-hearted shrug. There were few things in the real world she took pride in, and the longer that her life dragged on in Sword Art Online, the more she had found herself questioning just how eager she really was to go back home again. Her body was already likely deteriorating. She would be amazed if she still had her job or apartment to come back to. And most of the few friends that she held onto could hardly be considered as such.

At the top of the ballroom's grand staircase, just past the entrance to the grand building that housed the Valentine's Day event hours ago, a pair of NPCs went about their business. Likely there to monitor the area after its use, or perhaps just stationed to inform players of the remaining holiday-themed quests that were available, a woman with tawny hair pinned up into a bun caught sight of the dancing couple. She reached out, giving the sharply-dressed man she worked beside a quick tap on the arm with the back of her hand to urge his attention. She pointed towards Ryo and Teion on the lower floor, a smile stretching across her face as she watched the two players dance, and where the man simply rolled his eyes, she gave him a small pout and moved herself to the wall beside the front entrance. A menu pulled up, similar but not identical to those that a player would access, and her slender fingers danced over the options presented to her. With a satisfied smile, the NPC dismissed the window and grabbed her companion by the hand, tugging the man behind her as she moved back towards the entrance.

Teion's troublesome thoughts continued to fester in the silence, but it wasn't much longer until that silence was broken. First, by Ryo's words. Their steps and patterns grew more simple until their dance could no longer be classified as a waltz. And then, starting out softly, the sound of a sweet song that filled the empty ballroom began to play. Teion blinked, and her eyes picked up towards the high ceilings, as if she might be able to find the source of the music. But after a moment, her attention turned back to her dance partner. She was stuck somewhere between genuinely enjoying the evening spent with Ryo, and feeling guilty for the unrequited feelings of the man who had shown her as good of a time as she could ask for. Still, she tried her best to focus on the former and the corner of her mouth pulled up into a small smile. "Yeah. As...weird as everything is," She started vaguely, unclear as to whether she was referring to their earlier boat ride, the lack of clarity in the relationship between them, her own fractured state of being as of late, or perhaps just quite literally everything, "Tonight was pretty nice."

[Ryo 0]

Ryo chuckled at Teions quip about herself. "Do you have a come back for strikingly beautiful, or simply wonderful? Because I'd love to hear you poke some holes into that." He teased as the two continued their dance. As Ryo finished his heartfelt statement, he could hear the slight fumblings of instruments. Looking over he could see the NPC's set up to play their song. Ryo let out a happy scoff, one of almost disbelief. He slowed the movements down, turning the dance into a slow dance which was then cued up by the song that started up. Ryo continued his slow dance. Ryo nodded to Teion as she agreed with him that the night was going nicely, despite a few hiccups along the way. He remained silent as the song continued, gently moving Teion across the dance floor. The entire moment was, in a word, magical. And it was a moment that Ryo would never forget. Even with his thoughts of his past clouding his mind, the stress of the future clouding over him, or the threat of death around every corner looming before him. This singular moment erased all of it. He was at peace, he was happy, and he was clear. The only things that existed were Teion, and the soft smile that she gave him. Ryo was enjoying the moment so much that his heart and chest ached. But he ignored that small twinge of irritation and continued the dance. When the song ended, he stopped moving holding Teion at arm's length. Again, he said nothing. He simply smiled at the woman he had fallen in love with.

[Teion 0]

Teion's brows narrowed as she shot the man a glare that was more playful and suspicious than annoyed. "Oh, I'm sure I could try, but something tells me that arguing with you is way too dangerous." She shot back with an amused chuckle. She fell silent, to keep from embarrassing herself among the man's compliments. Instead, she focused on their slow and steady movements, drifting side to side over the ballroom floor as the gentle duet of a piano and violin echoed softly throughout the room.

This was nice. The past couple of days, Teion had felt like a jumbled mess. She still did, but the tangled feelings, the stress, and the anxiety had all felt a little farther away the past few hours. She met Ryo's eyes for a moment and her heartbeat quickened ever-so-slightly at the sight of his soft gaze, causing her to drop hers and instead stare at the marble floor past his shoulder. How did she really feel about the man across from her? More importantly, what would she do with that answer? She knew of Ryo's feelings towards her--or at least, she thought she did. Was it cruel of her to continue to see him and grow closer to him while she held onto all of her fears and insecurities? She had left Aereth because she was scared. Abandoned him, and ran away from it all just like she pushed away and hid from her old friends when things got tough.

Their dance came to an end, and Teion's expression had grown solemn. Her eyes picked back up to see Ryo smiling, and she felt another small twinge of guilt at the sight of his loving gaze. Her chest felt tight while she wordlessly slid her arms past his shoulders. She embraced the man, her fingers curling into loose fists against his shoulder and her arm. "I'm sorry." She started, her voice soft with their closeness. "Things...haven't been okay for me lately. And I've been trying to keep it all to myself, like usual." She admitted, keeping her gentle hold on Ryo's frame. "I'm scared, and tired of hurting people. So, if I've been hurting you all this time... If that's what I'm doing, right now, I'm sorry." Her hold tightened just slightly, as if she was being stubborn. Stubbornly trying to find comfort, and refusing to release her embrace. "But I meant it. Tonight was nice, being able to forget about those things for a while."