[F01 - PP] Finally, a well deserved breather. (With Zuel)

[Rithe 0]

She frowns, appearing to be somewhat saddened by Zuel refusing her advances. But the moment of disappointment is forgotten when he puts his hands on her shoulders and tries to pry her from him. She looks from his hands on her shoulder to his eyes and back again. Her face flushes with color again. "R-rest?" But I have so much energy. But when he smiles at her, her heart goes nuclear. It was as if she suddenly had tunnel vision for every part of her being. She felt the stars in her soul align at that moment. In that moment, the smile was everything to her. She laughs happily when he questions her smile. She tried to put what she was feeling into words but it didn't come out the way she intended. "I'm just.. really happy." She felt like she could just look at him and survive off of his radiance. In the span of a few minutes she has gone from happy to enraptured, which would have shocked her if she could think straight. She notices him glance at something, probably his menu, but thinks nothing of it. He suggests sleep and she feels instantly compelled to obey. Something in her core demanded that she make this man as happy as possible. "Sleep... Sure, let's sleep." Despite saying this, she doesn't move an inch physically.

[Zuel 0]

Zuel would notice that she had been staring at him for a very long time and in a way that she hadn't before. He was a bit confused but still relieved at the same time and sat there as he waited for her to return to her bed. Even after she had agreed that they should go to sleep Rithe would still sit next to him on his bed as he wasn't sure what to do in this situation. "Well if we are going to sleep you should probably head back to your bed so you can be comfortable." Zuel would motion to her bed but I don't think she even noticed as she was still looking at him. He would rub the back of his head looking away for a second before looking back to her. "Well, I am pretty tired from today so I think I am going to sleep and get some rest. Goodnight Rithe." Zuel would lay down onto his back laying a bit away from where they had been sitting hoping that him laying down would give Rithe the hint that she should go lay down on her bed and get some rest as he would turn on his side away from her. He would glance over his shoulder to still see her sitting there as he would turn onto his back looking at her. What is going on? "Is something wrong Rithe? How come you won't go back to your bed?" He thought maybe being direct with her would give him some sort of answer of what was happening with her.

[Rithe 0]

"Ah, sorry." She apologizes sheepishly and goes to her own bed. She lays down and covers herself up with the sheets, keeping her head exposed. And then she waits. Ridiculously patiently. She waits until his breathing slows and becomes even. And then she starts to get out of her bed. But she stops herself. Would he be mad at me if I tried to get closer? I probably should leave him alone. She looks over at his sleeping form. But... She frowns, trying to find a solution to her dilemma. She goes back to her bed and lays back to down to think about it some more. I feel so cold over here... I miss being next to him. Maybe he won't mind if I don't make a big deal out of it. Finally making up her mind. Knowing that he's at least mostly asleep, she climbs into his bed as gently as possible. Worried that she may have disturbed him, she tries to make a logical appeal mumbling about how freezing she was. As soon as he drifts back off to sleep Rithe gets cozy. Trying to be as tactful as possible, she attempts to put a respectable distance between them on the bed. However, sometime during the night when she had fallen asleep, she subconsciously glomps onto him. 

[Zuel 0]

Zuel would sigh in relief as he would watch as she would head back to her bed. Finally able to close his eyes and start dozing off now that things had calmed down a bit. He would place his hands behind his head for support as he would end up falling asleep. Having heard a noise he would sleepishly open his eyes as he would see Rithe up and about but she would say something that he didn't really hear because he had been so tired from the ordeal. Falling back to sleep Zuel wouldn't evennotice Rithe at all coming onto his bed pretty knocked out himself. As morning drew near he would slowly open his eyes as the sun would shine in through their inn room waking Zuel up to find RIthe latched onto him as it made it impossible for him to move himself. He would lean up as much as he could looking down as the sleeping girl. Why is she clingy on to me like this? Did she sleep here like that all night? Zuel would attempt to wake RIthe up by shaking her a bit as he couldn't move otherwise. "Rithe wake up! What are you doing in my bed?" Zuel was very confused about the situation as he thought after the night things would return to normal but it would appear that it had only escalated even further. "Rithe!" He would try to wake her up again with another shake.

[Rithe 0]

Finally. She was finally able to get some good sleep. She wasn't sure how long it had been, but for once, her dreams weren't filled with nightmares. She felt safe, and extremely comfortable somehow. Sound asleep, she doesn't feel the first few shakes and doesn't hear the first few words, shifting slightly, but still latched firmly onto him. The shout managed to pierce into her now waking mind. "Mhm?" She hasn't quite woken up yet, struggling heavily with speech and general cognition. Her eyes still closed, she doesn't relinquish her hold. She feels the secondary set of shakes, wearily and slowly blinking her eyes open. "Wha..?" She fails for the second time at speech, still partially asleep. She notices the source of her warmth during the night and she pauses as the facts begin to sink in. Her face goes red very quickly as she processes the scene. "S-sorry!" She says, disconnecting from him and falling off the bed. Looking at him somewhat guiltily, she says a half truth: "I was just c-cold. R-really cold." Hopefully he wasn't angry with her for doing that...

it was almost out of my control.

[Zuel 0]

Zuel would smile lightly laughing at the situation as he was not able to move. “It’s alright Rithe I understand.” He would get up giving her a hand to her feet as he would lightly stretch his arms after being so stiff before sitting back on the bed in front of her. “You seem pretty well rested... uh how are you feeling? Any... different?” He would inspect her a bit to see if maybe her personality went back to normal after a good nights sleep. Zuel was trying to make some understanding of what had happen. Maybe going through so many different experiences so quickly effected her personality. Whatever the case Zuel was just relieved she wasn’t trying to hit him anymore. “So what would you like to do today? I think we could still use a good break before heading back to the field.” Zuel wasn’t really sure what to do in this situation so he just thought he would go with what ever Rithe wanted to do. Zuel shirt was a mess as it had become unbuttoned a bit from the top exposing most of his chest. His hair was a bit messy as some of his strands would cover part of his face. He would run his hand through his hair to fix it but it would fall back into the front of his face a bit. “We can do what ever you want today. Just  tell me.” Zuel would give her a warm smile as he was being genuine with her. 

[Rithe 0]

There it was again, lesser than before but still powerful in its own right. Rithe basks in the vibrance of his small and brief smile, smiling herself. Rithe was trying as hard as she can to contain her urges, but she it was taking all of her focus. She just gazed at him while he spoke, mesmerized by the sound of his voice. She snaps out of it long enough to answer his question, "Different? W-what do you mean?" She squirms under his inspection, immensely flattered by his attention. Thoughts, think. Look, stare~~~. No wait, don't stare. "Today? I.. uhm. I'm not sure." She was having trouble as it was. Thinking about her day plan was a bit beyond the scope of her abilities. "Maybe we cou--" She chokes up and starts coughing when she notices the state of her companion. Her gray eyes examine his current physical condition as her face does its best to imitate a tomato. And his smile sealed the deal. She couldn't hold back any more. Even with all her brain-cells straining to pull herself back, her body kept moving forward. Rithe gets back onto his bed and crawls over towards him, looking at him curiously. She manages to force herself to settle with sitting next to him, looking up at him. Stop! What am I doing?! Did this happen back then too? I can't remember! She's not sure what to say next, just looking down at her hands and then looking back up at him. "Y-y-you.. Uhm.." She reaches towards his chest with both hands, gingerly. "M-may I?" She goes to gently button his shirt back up, making sure to be a slow and delicate as possible. 

[Zuel 0]

Zuel noticed and watched as she seemed to be acting a bit more normal I mean she was a teenage girl after all so maybe it was normal. She suddenly would appear next to him as she attempted to button his shirt. Zuel hadn't even noticed from all the excitement from waking up but he didn't see anything wrong with it as he would give her a nod allowing her to button his shirt for him. She was close, very close to him Zuel was able to smell her girly sent while she was near him it was something he never really had a chance to experience missing out a lot on making friends with girls like this while he was serving in the military in the real world. He would pat her head as a thank you. "You would be the perfect daughter if I ever wanted kids" He would chuckle lightly at the thought as he would lay back on the bed once she was finished as he hadn't really been sleeping well so he still seemed pretty tired especially from what has been happening. "So have you decided what you want to do today?" He would ask looking over to her as she was still sitting on the edge of the bed.

[Rithe 0]

She dutifully buttons his shirt back up and fixes his collar, locking eyes with him and smiling warmly. And for her efforts she earns a headpat. Like a cat, she pushes her head into his hand, craving more affection. She pauses in some sort of shock as Zuel describes her as the 'perfect daughter'. She blinks a few times, confused, and then explodes with laughter. Me?! His daughter? "Haha~" She laughs wiping tears from her eyes. For some reason, the idea of it didn't sound too terrible, but it certainly wasn't what she had in mind. "You can be really funny sometimes, you know that?" She grins at him, appearing very amused. At his second question, her thoughts drifted back to Dez for the first time since she became obsessed. I don't have time for that now. If that Player Killer follows the same path, someone else will kill him. "I'm not sure... I'm willing to go wherever and do whatever you want." She was desperate to appeal to him, and as such had no particular desire other than to make him happy. 

[Zuel 0]

Zuel would return his hand to his side. "Thank you Rithe." Zuel would rise to his feet as he would get his jacket putting it one arm at a time. "Well I am sure you want to bath, I could use one too honestly. I think there is one down the hall if you want to take one. I will go get us something to eat alright? and be right back then we can decide what to do" Zuel would set out of the room and head to the market to pick up something to eat for them. Getting to the market Zuel would pick up something and begin to head back to the inn with bag full of food. Returning to the room Rithe wan't there assuming she had went to the bath as he would place the bag on the table taking it out and setting it out as he waited for her. He would lay on the bed as he waited for her resting his eyes for a second as he began to slowly drift to sleep. He struggled to keep himself awake as he just felt so tired all the time after coming here and wasn't able to sleep well.

[Rithe 0]

Watching curiously as he dresses himself fully, Rithe stays in place listening to his words. Bath? As tempting as that sounds, isn't there no need to maintain cleanliness? That and she certainly wasn't keen on removing the jacket anytime soon. She simply nods in response, accepting his suggestions. "Okay! I'll see you soon then." She says with the tiniest hint of sadness. And when he leaves she finds herself frozen in place. So cold. She looks around at the room, everything seems bland and empty without him here. She gets up from the bed and moves to the door almost subconsciously, but stops herself. Following him isn't a good idea. Stop this. I don't want to do this. But her feet were already carrying her down the steps. Luckily, the baths were in the same direction so she had an excuse if she was caught. She barely notices him leaving and immediately starts towards the same exit, before stopping and glancing over her shoulder at the bathhouse. He's expecting me to take a bath, that's the least I could do, right. She looks back to the exit he left through. But what if he gets hurt out there and I can't protect him? She was stressing out heavily from this. Some other people passing through the inn give her odd stares as they walk around her, but she pays no mind. Maybe I can just say I went to the baths. Maybe I can just get my hair wet so he'd believe me. A pit of guilt forms in her stomach, and she sits heavily into a bar stool, struggling immensely. I can't do that. I can't lie to him, what was I thinking?! She makes up her mind, sort of, and heads into the bathhouse. But she doesn't get much farther than the entrance, looking at her jacket and then towards the baths and back again. Uhhmmmmm... At this point Zuel was already back at the room, and some time had passed. Rithe had made little to no progress with the baths, but she didn't want to return to him 'empty-handed'. 

[Zuel 0]

Zuel would awake suddenly springing out of his bed as if he had a nightmare looking around the room. He was sweating a bit as he decided that maybe he should take a bath himself looking around the room not seeing Rithe anywhere. Maybe she is still taking a bath. Zuel shrugged as he went down the hall to where the mens bath seeing Rithe standing outside the bath house. "Rithe? What are you doing? Are you okay?" Thinking that she would be already done with her bath by now was a bit surprised to see he there. "Well I was thinking about taking a bath real quick so I will see you back at the room okay. I got you some food so feel free to eat I will be right back. Zuel would pat her head and enter the mens bath house as he would undress and get into the bath washing himself a bit as he would run his fingers through his hair relaxing a bit. It had been awhile since Zuel had a bath since being in a mmorpg it wasn't really necessary but it felt good none the less. After a little bit Zuel would head back to room wondering how Rithe was doing.

[Rithe 0]

Still standing and still very confused, Rithe jumps when Zuel calls out to her. Oh, uh. Excuse, I need a good excuse. But I can't lie! Arrggh.. "I- uhm.. I'm fine." She says unconvincingly, trying to think of something smart to say. "I just..." She trails off and shakes her head. "Nevermind." She bows her head and allows him to enter into the bathhouse, receiving a headpat for her efforts. Wait! He's going to the bathhouse?! Less than decent thoughts started to proliferate into her brain. No, stop! She glances over to the entrance to the baths before closing her eyes and burying her face into her hands. Stop it! She staggers away from the lobby of the inn, and stumbles up the stairs. Why was that so hard to do? She kept finding herself glancing down the hall to where he'd be coming from. She shivers, and enters their room. Something was very wrong. It seemed like the world was bitterly cold and depressingly dark up here, similar to when he left to go to the market. I... I don't want to be here. I want to be with him. He's warm. She curls up into a ball on the floor and shivers some more. She begins to feel nauseous with anxiety and coils herself into the jacket even tighter. I can't... I can't do what he wants... I have to stay with him. He needs me and I.... REALLY need him. The sound of the door handle is enough to startle her to a sitting position just as he gets through the door. Instantly she feels better, the anxiety fading and being replaced with a happy warmth. Sitting on the floor at the center of the room, she gives him a slightly worried look. 

[Zuel 0]

Zuel opens the door and enters the room seeing Rithe sitting on the floor as he laughs lightly. "What are you doing on the floor?" He would close the door behind him as she noticed the look Rithe was giving him as he rushed over kneeling down right in front of her. "Hey.. whats the matter?" He would place his hand on her shoulder to find he was shiver a bit as he would slide his hand down her arm grabbing her hand. "Are you cold?" He would look to her tilting his head a bit as he asked her, he would have a concerned expression on his face. His hair was still wet it was dripping a drop of water every now and then and he was wearing a light shirt after having just gotten out of the bath. "Why don't you get under the covers for a bit." Zuel would help RIthe to her feet as he lead her to the bed allowing her to sit down. "Are you sure you are okay? You have been acting a bit strange since we have gotten back to the inn. Is there something you want to tell me?" Zuel really wanted to know what was happening with Rithe and hopefully she could open up to him.

[Rithe 0]

She offers a weakened smile when hearing his question and laugh but doesn't say anything. Surprised by his sudden movements, she catches herself from falling over when he kneels before her. She averts her eyes briefly when he asks her what's wrong, but she can't come up with a response. "I was.. just waiting." For you to get back. She almost recoils from his touch when he grabs her shoulder. Her heart-rate increases once again, as his hand slides down her arm and grabs her hand. Her breaths starting coming out short and sharp, as she tries to look at every spot on his face at once. She places her other hand over his and squeezes, trying to keep their hands together. Rithe grasps his hand firmly as he pulls her up and guides her to one of the beds, refusing to let go even after they sit down. She takes her eyes off him for a moment, just enough to look somewhat guilty before gazing back at him. "I don't know.. My heart.." She gives him a funny look and stares down at their joined hands. Describing this feeling isn't easy, but I want to answer to him. "I really d-don't know what's happening..." I just want to be around you. There's a pause of a few seconds as she musters up the courage to admit: "I've only felt like this once before, and I c-couldn't describe it then." Instantly, a brutal wave of guilt washes over her. I shouldn't have told him that, I shouldn't have told him that.

[Zuel 0]

Taking his time and listening to her Zuel tries to make sense of what she is saying but doesn't really get anything out of what she was saying. She was holding his hand so tightly so she must have something on her mind but he couldn't figure out what it was. After a long paused she would say something that would cause him to raise a brow. "Felt like this once before?" What does she mean by that? Maybe she hates me now because of what happened. "I am sorry if I did something to made you upset. I was only looking out for you. I know its not my place but I can't help but want to protect you Rithe." Zuel looked away averting his eyes from her a bit afraid that he might be right and she really did hate him. He would slowly pull his hand away from back to himself a bit ashamed to touch her. He would give her a weak smile looking back to her rubbing the back of his head. "Maybe we should go get some fresh air, we have been cooped up in this room for quite sometime." He would look away from her again.

[Rithe 0]

What if he asks more questions? What if he wants to know what it was like before, could I tell him? I don't think I could, I can't possibly lose him now. But his next words dashed that idea and brought forth the apocalypse. A hellish roller-coaster of emotions hit Rithe out of nowhere, making her elated that he's thinking about her, to terrified that he might be misunderstanding her. Nonononononononono, why is he saying this?  "Zuel, I..." She blinks away tears as he keeps getting the wrong idea about her feelings. She feels a lance of pain when he averts his eyes. A pit forms in her stomach, cold and churning. When he pulls away from her, it was as if her tether had been cut. It felt like she had been left behind, floating in a freezing emptiness all alone. She casts her eyes downwards, face veiled by her hair, emotions fighting for control. 

No. I refuse. I WILL NOT lose him now. When he looks away for the second time, Rithe takes action. She stands, and gets in front of him. She looks up at him, even though he isn't facing her and pushes with both her hands on his chest with the intent of making him fall on the bed. She follows after and sits on top of him, kissing him. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by Rithe

[Zuel 0]

Looking away Zuel isn't sure what to say now he thought he might lose his only friend to something he didn't understand. Maybe Zuel just didn't understand teenage girls as he probably did something to make her upset like he always does because of his personality. I should say something... "Rithe I.." Zuel's eyes would widen as he was very surprised that she pushes him back onto the bed, as he tried to sit back up but was pinned as she climbed on top of him. "What are y...." Before he could finish his thought Rithe's lips would touch his as his eyes would widen even further from her kissing him. He became conflicted as he didn't see this coming at all which was something that someone as calculated as he Zuel was didn't feel often. He slowly put his hands on her shoulders as he went to nudge her away but couldn't find the strength to do it as he would kiss her back for a few seconds before moving her gently off him. They were still close, very close but just enough to were they weren't kissing anymore. Zuel was speechless not sure what say, do or feel after something like that. He would stare up at her his face was a bit flushed from her kiss. "Rithe...?"

Edited October 17, 2018 by Zuel

[Rithe 0]

She was relieved when he reciprocated. For a moment, she was worried that she took it too far too fast. And under normal circumstances, perhaps this would be the case. She breaths deeply the second they part. Rithe was in a state of bliss, even though she felt so lost only moments ago. She starts giggling uncontrollably, something about this situation was extremely funny for some reason. When she stops, she just looks down at him, tilts her head to the side and smiles. "Do you understand now?" She says, waiting for his response, refusing to move from her position. "No more confusion. No more hesitation." Now that I know he isn't vehemently against the idea of this, I no longer have to hold back. She tenses up instinctively as she waits for his answer, even though she is under the assumption that he's thinking the same as her. "You want to protect me right?" She smiles at him lovingly, "Then never leave my side. Not for a second." 

[Zuel 0]

Zuel would try to sit up again but it was impossible with her on top of her. He was still in a bit of shock not really knowing how to feel. "Rithe I.." He looks away as he tries collect his thoughts as he does understand her feelings now even if he wasn't sure it how it became like this. "I understand now Rithe.. but... I'm sorry." Zuel couldn't bring himself to look at Rithe but manage to sneak a peak at her. "I do want to protect you and I don't plan to leave your side but..."  He would turn to her his face was serious and calm however he couldn't hide the fact it was a bit red. "I don't know if I can return your feelings." Is this the right thing to say? Am I just going to make things worst? Zuel was still pinned underneath Rithe unable to move as his breathing was steady as she could probably feel his chest rising and descending as he took a breath.