Gonna Be Alright

Daechir stands in his kitchen, staring at the cupboard as if it holds the answers to life's questions, and isn't too keen on giving them up. After a long, indecisive moment he picks out a tea and things move forward as though he hasn't been staring at that cupboard for far too long. "I think that the orange ginsing would be best at this hour." It's a bit late in the evening, and he talks to the only other person in the house. He pours water from the kettle into a tea pot and brings it over to the table where the tea cups already wait.

A small smile lights across his otherwise somewhat strained features as he sees Aya sitting at the table, setting the tea pot on the table so that it can steep while they sit there. "Would you like me to make something for you, besides tea?" A slight twitch of his lips here.

Aya seems ... torn. Her trend at his revival continues as she hovers... yet not? "No, thank you. Tea is more than enough." She seems reluctant that he is as active as he is... while also not actually limiting him from doing what he wishes. Quite attentive to his actions and position, yet remaining at arm's length. The flicker of smile seems to relax her for a moment, though not enough to fully return it. "I could steep it if you wish." As strenuous as herbs and leaves standing in boiling water might be.

If Daed is aware of her hovering at arms length, he is at least kind enough not to mention it. He offers her a somewhat crooked smile at her offer to steep for him, and presses the leaves onto the table well within her reach. "As you wish." Amused yes, but not unkindly so. He sets down into his chair and it's already close to hers. A seat where he can easily reach out and touch her.

Aya nods, turning her attention to the deposited leaves and claiming them. "How do you feel?" she inquires as she portions out the tea between the cups; her tone is not quite her neutral norm, layered lightly with multiple concerns. The focus upon a task that she has witnessed more than performed is an aid, though she does hazard a sidelong glance his way.

"Aside from the nightmares?" Daed offers these words lightly and not without a smile, though it's a slightly bitter one. He can't hide the fact that he's been having terrible dreams. She's been a guest in his home for too long, and more than once he's certain that his dreams have awoken her. He shrugs. "Aside from them, I feel quite myself, but you know that Aya."

His crimson eyes meet hers. "Why do you ask?"

Aya is aware of the nightmares, indeed. Awoken her? Quite possibly, when she had managed to rest. As to their cause, she can only speculate; despite rather common knowledge of others plagued by the same, she cannot help but wonder about her own contributions to Daechir's personal night-terrors. She holds his eyes a moment before turning them to the cups again. They cannot have tea unless she pours the water, and so she does.

"You seem so, but there are many times that I do not feel quite myself. Obviously, I cannot trust my own judgment as I once did." Now her focus returns to him. "I... wish you to be hearty, hale, and happy." He reaches a hand across the table, stilling her hand from pouring the tea briefly so that they naturally make eye contact for a moment longer. "The dreams will fade Aya, and they can not harm me. Aside from them, I am as you wish for me to be." His fingers caress the top of her hand, enticing her to hold his hand. He doesn't really care about the tea. "The only unhappiness in my life at the moment is the worry that creases your brow."

Aya's creases slacken some as she's touched and she doesn't combat the enticement; her hand is taken/given. "May they fade soon, then." Her creases deepen again at their mention, however. "Is it so obvious?" Worry isn't something she has much prior experience in, if her interactions were any indication.

Daed holds her hand comfortably, resting their clasped fingers on the table rather than the tea pot, and he smiles warmly at her question. "Only to those of us that know you I'm sure. I would have you worry less Aya, about me at the very least. So if there is some way that I can reassure you..." He trails off meaningfully.

Aya inhales, considers words, then exhales before having decided. She turns further towards him, bringing her other hand to rest upon the held pair. She leaves the tea to steep in whatever water was poured as she tries again. "If you are truly all of those, assure me that you will stay that way. I will worry less." A brief smile is even offered after, for emphasis.

It does not last as her expression firms. "There is a task yet ahead that I should focus upon. Once it is done, there should be nothing more to make you unhappy."

"Ah. There I can offer you no promises." Daechir offers somewhat wistfully. "For while you are away on your task, I will be full of worry for you. And should you fail to return my heart..." He suddenly chuckles, the morbidness of reminders that his heart had been once crushed making him laugh. "I would not want to live the rest of my days without your smile to brighten them Aya."

Signs were missed, then stumbled upon. Hearts were broken, then wooed back with diamonds.

Perhaps now that the mistakes, murder, and/or mayhem are out of the way, they will have some time for something more akin to romance. Once the final pieces are complete, that is.

His hand is squeezed following the statement, both for the affection in it and the morbidity of the thought. Mention of her smile brings it forth, and even one most familiar for her: uneven and wry. "You have given me more than I expected, now more than I deserve. You also give me every reason to return."

"More than you expected perhaps, but never more than you deserved." Daed lifts his free hand, leaning forward in his seat to capture the edge of her jaw. "You see yourself through amber glasses, and judge yourself based on what you see through them. But through my eyes, you would see yourself a different person. A woman far more than worthy of my love and affection. If I could give you any gift, it would be to see what I see when I look at you."

He's suddenly on one knee before her, looking up at her with his crimson and black eyes. "You have all that I possess, and myself Aya. Do not think for a moment that these are gifts lightly given."

A brow arches and her lips hold the curl, even increasing it further. "A woman who does not hesitate to get what she wants? Yields to none?" she offers a suggestion as to his sight with no small amount of wry. A rather familiar sight before her expression softens with an exhaled sigh and she leans into his hand.

"I want you, Daechir, and am fortunate enough to be granted that. Again or still." The furrows on her brow even slacken notably and it is an afterthought that she adds, "Your possessions were merely held until your return."

Daechir rises from his feet with a low noise of amusement, offering his lips to her. "Come let us have tea." He offers this as a gentle way to change the subject. Besides, if she doesn't pour it soon, then it will get cold without ever having steeped.

The offering is accepted, welcomed, even. Yet the partaking is brief as he segues back to tea at hand. A a small blink and smaller nod. "Yes, of course."

She straightens, turns and tends to the cups, filling each with the water that may no longer be boiling, but may yet be hot enough. The shift to the task also returns her to her inner musings; while her brow does not immediately regain deep furrows, she isn't as relaxed a a second prior.

As she tends to the tea he settles back into his seat, watching her with a fond smile that fades slowly watching her brow half-furrowed with though. "What is so on your mind Aya?" He asks gently. Once the tea is poured he takes his cup and brings it close to himself, his fingers laced over the small porcelain dish so that his hands are warmed by the rising water vapor.

Aya reaches for her own to pull it nearer herself, hands remaining about it as if for warmth. She studies the leeching into the water a moment as she considers his question before she comments. "Implications, half-truths, lies... they are a way of life, a core part of us; mul'niessa, Charneth. Or they were. I would have none of it any longer; especially so between us."

A pause before her head turns to him, her eyes seeking his with some effort. "We are neither as we were, changed by this. Do you love me? Hate me? Fear me?" Despite the inquiry there is no inquisitive nor wry arching of brows.

He doesn't respond to the words that she says right away. Not the truth that they are Mul'niessa and there-by wrapped about by lies, nor the question as to what change has occured in him since his death and ressurrection. Yet Daed does not avoid her eyes, he searches her gaze instead, trying to understand the source of her querry. "The way of Charneth has never been my way Aya. I am reminded too often that I am a mutt, a half-breed mongrel unwelcome in polite society."

His smile is not exactly bitter, but it is not a happy smile and he sighs. "The demon of you haunts my dreams, and I am thrust back into my childhood. Reminded of fears that I had wished long since laid to rest." He half-lifts a hand, touching his collar bone but not his neck. "But in my waking hours I find the woman I love and I love you as much now as I did before. How could I hate you? How could I fear you?"

Daechir's hand falls and his lip quirks. "Neither of those words are what I feel for you Aya, yet I would be lying indeed if I said that I was wholly well."

Aya is silent pending his response, with even breath halted. Her eyes follow his movements, and it is not until he finishes speaking that she exhales softly and resumes respiration. "You would have every right to feel any of those, and more."

She does not linger on that aspect, though and her expression hardens as she notes rather emphatically, "You are above their ways. You are more than they, not less. You are most welcome to those deserving of your presence."

Her visage softens again. "Whatever you require to mend, I will happily provide..." Now a quirk of her lips. "To include reminders of your worth, as necessary."

"Your patience is appreciated, as is your presence." Daed says gently, smiling softly at her offer. "You needn't bolster my ego however. Just your affection is enough reminder that I am worthy."

The quirk of her lips spreads and mellows into a smile. Aya leans towards as her hand reaches for his cheek, this time. "You have all of those, Daechir. All that I am, is yours." A slight pursing forms as she still has her own uncertainties of herself and what lies ahead. "The demon of me that plagues your dreams will soon be no more. Then it will just be us."

-End