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WHO: Liadrin and Yoite
WHERE: the roof of Awesome Base
WHEN: Backlogged to Yoite and Liadrin's communicator chat (because I was busy on the holiday :[ ) Nov 24th
SUMMARY: Liadrin is a nosy, fussy busybody who can't stop trying to help people even when they don't want it.
FORMAT: Paragraph

Climbing up to the roof of a house without a ladder is an ordeal in and of itself. Doing so when wearing a full suit of armor (weapon included) is something else entirely.

Paint chips and splinters littered the ground just below Liadrin's chosen climbing spot; the silver adamantine of her boots and gauntlets gouging out ugly ruts in the wood's surface. As frustrating as it was to make any headway, she moved in an s-pattern long the panels and panes without slowing, slipping only with the occasional patch of condensation or rotting board. Her fingers curled around the edge of the gutter, she set her heels against the wall and kicked up-- twisting her torso to the lower half of her body up and flat against the roof.

From voice alone she had no idea what to expect, but she found much, much less huddled up in a ball before her. The figure of a child, barely there at all aside from the thin heap of clothes draped loosely over its miniscule frame.

"Anar'alah..." She breathed, "You're so small."

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Yoite was never quite fond of the idea of help or people worrying about him. He never had been, simply because he wasn't used to it. When he was a child, if he was sick, then too bad. He would still be in the basement, suffering alone in the cold, usually curled up in the corner in the far back of the room, behind the boxes that had littered the room. That was how it had always been, he had taken care of himself and no one had minded it. No one had minded whenever he was coughing so hard he couldn't breathe, and no one cared and some actually agreed that he thought it was better if he was gone. It had been better, at least he thought it had been. He still wasn't used to people caring.

He did have an easier time accepting it now, than he had before, and the kindness of others no longer bothered him to the extent it had before he met Miharu and learned to open up, if only a little bit more. Still, he had his moments of doubt, and they seemed to be getting more and more frequent lately. Even if he had been here a while now, he still felt like a stranger to everyone and everything and the lack of getting to use his abilities, and following orders, was a bit awkward. It meant that it was never for a mission, that it was just Yoite, there, desperately trying to find something to hang onto, at least until he found out a way to make his erasure happen once more, within the City. After all, the people here had no reason to remember him either and remembering him would only bring pain. Being around him brought pain too, but regardless of how much he liked being on his own without anyone fussing over him, he didn't feel quite comfortable with the idea of living alone, simply because he had never done so before. He had always had people around him.

Hearing the sound of someone moving up toward the roof snapped the dark-haired teenager out of his own little world of thoughts that only seemed to repeat themselves, and he shook his head a little. Maybe telling that he was on the roof wasn't such a good idea, but honestly, the woman had seemed stressed and he didn't want to be a reason for her to be upset. He brought too much pain already, so he figured it wouldn't hurt to let her check up on him at least. He hoped. As long as she didn't get too involved with him after this it would be fine, there was a reason why he distanced himself from the others at the base most of the time after all.

Once the woman was in view, he arched a slender eyebrow, not at her appearance, he had seen her before when he was creeping around the house, but at her comment. He had heard people refer to him as skinny or girly before, but never as small, considering how despite how thin he was, he was quite tall. Then again, he was sitting curled up and his clothes were a few sizes too big. His whole appearance pretty much just screamed awkward teenager, not that he was really aware of this. "... Not small." He responded, quietly, distantly, the tone he most commonly used when speaking to someone. Almost detached, as if he wasn't really speaking to anyone in particular. After he had commented though, he curled up a little more, pulling his knees up against his chest more tightly, appearing even smaller. It was a bit of a habit.

She blinked. His voice was barely audible over the passing breeze. It was as if the child didn't exist at all. How could he not know how small he was?

Then again, maybe he did.

Liadrin watched him coil up around himself protectively while she worked to cross the rooftop without stomping one of her heavy boots on any weak patches, which would most likely send her crashing through the ceiling and back into the kitchen. If he wound himself any tighter, she was certain he would completely disappear from existence entirely.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you earlier," She said, dropping her lithe frame down beside him with a resounding thud; her plate mail fracturing a few shingles upon impact. "I was just worried about you..."

Yoite watched her as she moved across the rooftop, and scooted a bit further away when she moved to sit beside him, as always disliking it when people got too close for his comfort. And it was quite easy to invade his personal bubble, he needed to be just out of reach. He had days when coming closer was ok, but those weren't common and only people he knew were allowed to come that close to him. More often than not, he preferred sitting on his own. Even back home, he had had times when he pushed Yukimi or Ms. Hanabusa, or even Miharu away. He didn't care when he was in a fight, if he got kicked, hit or stabbed, that didn't hurt as much as the gentleness of others. It wasn't as scary. After all, if someone hurt him, he hurt them back. If someone showed him kindness, he had no idea how to return that because he didn't know how to be kind.

He looked to the side as Liadrin spoke, and he didn't respond right away, shuddering a little. It was getting quite cold out, and even with his thick clothes, that chill somehow still seemed to find a way in. He supposed it was just one of those things he had to get used to as long as his senses were still working as they should, though he wondered how long it would stay that way. His Kira had been quick in tearing his body apart from the inside back home, even when he wasn't using it, but now... There almost hadn't been any negative effects at all except for the occasional fever and the coughing. He still got sick a bit easier than others and he still needed a whole lot of food, but besides that, there wasn't really anything wrong with him. It was... Odd. But perhaps his powers had changed after his erasure... Or death. He wasn't sure which one came first. He wasn't sure if there even was a way of telling them apart, either way it had been very dark when he'd closed his eyes back then. Dark and very quiet until he had found himself in this place.

"... Didn't." He finally responded, glancing at her. She hadn't frightened him, not really, and she wasn't frightening him now. Well, the fact that she bothered to worry about him was a bit... But not really. "... I'm fine. It's just a cold." He added, trying to make her believe he was fine. He would add something more, but he was starting to learn that adding things like 'I didn't even cough up blood' wasn't really reassuring to others, so he decided against pointing that out, as most of the time, things like that seemed to have the opposite effect of what he wanted.

"You know," She began as she set her chin neatly atop her hand, "That is the problem with lying to someone who is quite experienced in interrogation. We can always tell when you're being ever so slightly dishonest."

For a brief moment, studying him, it pulled her back to the days when her home was under siege. Often times, parents, unwilling to see their children fall to the horrors of war, engaged in selfless acts of heroism-- noble, to be sure, but in the end it left countless numbers of children alone, starving and traumatized without shelter or comfort aside from the occasional care of an exhausted priest.

Liadrin hadn't clue what had hurt him so terribly that the sight of him alone sent her back to the trying days before her own breaking point; but war or not, she supposed anything was possible here. Come to think of it, she hadn't met a single child that had been fortunate enough to have led a peaceful life prior to their relocation to this world.

He shivered, and despite the fact that she knew he was just barely tolerating her presence, her fingers went to her shoulders.

"Hold still." Thumbs unlatching her cloak, Liadrin pinched the crimson fabric between her fingertips before dropping it unceremoniously on his shoulders.

"Warmer?"

Yoite blinked a few times, glancing at her once more. Lying? Perhaps he was. He was never 'fine' so that was a lie. He had his times of being ok, but most of the time, he was too absorbed in his thoughts, or thinking about the past too much, or sick like he was now to be 'fine'. Looking away again, he this time looked up at the sky. That was why he went to the roof so often after all, because he could see the sky clearly and it was more peaceful. It was odd though, all this peaceful time. Back home he would be so busy with missions that the only peace he had was those times in the backseat of Yukimi's car as they traveled from location to location on business, or the times by the window in his apartment, and both places there was always some sort of sound disturbing the peace, such as Yukimi's never ending bitching or the sound of him typing away at the computer.

He supposed he had had peaceful times with Miharu too, but it wasn't quite as same as the peaceful feelings he got from spending hours on the roof just looking at the sky. He often wondered what to do now when he was up here, knowing he couldn't go on living because that would just cause more damage in the end, but he had no Miharu, no Shinrabansho, to rely on here. He wasn't sure there was any way to go through with erasure here, and the only other thing there was was to die, but from what he'd heard and read, that wouldn't work either. It would just chip away at his memories and then, he would be just a shell and that wasn't very tempting at all.

His attention went back to the other, eyes going slightly wide and he tensed a little as she dropped the cloak around his shoulders. He hadn't expected her to do that, and for a moment, he just stared at her, unsure of what to do. She would get cold after all, but rejecting her kindness would probably be just as bad. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with something like this, and how it was normal to react. Had it been someone he was more familiar with, he would probably reject it, like he had rejected it that time when Miharu had tried to give him the scarf he now wore so often, but... As it was, this was a situation completely different from that time.

"...." He opened his mouth to speak, before closing it again, pulling the cloak around himself a little more. "... Thank you.... You'll... Probably get cold now though..."

"No need to thank me. It is all a part of my purpose here, after all. As for the cold-- well, I've had worse in my life than a bit of a chill."

She let herself slide back to rest her weight on her elbows, head lolling against her right pauldron to keep her eyes fixed on him. Liadrin held a polite, comforting smile as she studied him carefully; but it was nothing more than a poker face meant to keep herself unreadable while she was busy analyzing every bit of information that she could gather from looks and behavior alone. Of course, she'd been at this the entire time, but being closer allowed her a more careful look, and she wasn't about to waste it.

So tired, so exhausted. She'd seen elderly magisters on their death beds that had more life, more energy in them. So then how was it that this boy, barely old enough to be on his own, had so little of anything in him at all?

"Have you eaten yet, today?" She inquired, patting her own stomach, "I have not. Admittedly, I am a poor cook, so I have only myself to blame for my hesitance."

Yoite could tell she was looking. He could practically sense when people were looking at him by now as that was a rather important skill for someone who was a ninja, and besides, if he could tell someone was staring, he could also tell when he needed to hide or blend in with the crowd better, and that was something he took advantage of outside his missions as well, blending in with the crowds whenever he went out to avoid any sort of attention. But with just the two of them, slinking off into the shadows was impossible, so he stayed still, pretending he didn't notice, looking off into the distance instead, his expression not really changing from that calm yet tired one.

The question about food came as a bit of a surprise to him, but he nodded a little. He had eaten, and a lot, as usual, though that was a few hours ago and he was already hungry again, but he couldn't eat constantly either, even though it sometimes felt like he had to. Lately though, he had been eating slower at least, rather than just shoving things down his throat for the sake of survival. As long as his senses were ok, he'd now started thinking about how things tasted, and it wasn't so much just something that was either warm or cold and helped keep his energy up. He'd even found some things he actually enjoyed eating and part of him wished that he could have eaten Miharu's okonomiyaki with his senses like they were now, but the boy was not here and Yoite honestly hoped it would stay that way. This City was no place for someone like him after all, and Yoite would be constantly worried if Miharu showed up, and he wouldn't even be able to protect him since the other didn't remember and Yoite wouldn't want him to end up knowing him again.

He only nodded in response, though he glanced at her as she admitted to being a poor cook. Then again, he was no good cook himself, so it wasn't like he could comment on it. "... I'm... Not really a good cook either."

"I used to prepare food for myself, you know. But that was quite a long time ago, before our Prince assigned me to this role," She sighed, patting her armor, "After that it was either war rations or the work of a chef."

It wasn't bragging-- why she mentioned her profession-- rather, it was so that he understood she was revealing her own past in an effort to earn his trust. Liadrin had hardly spoken of Azeroth since she had arrived in the city, save for Koltira. Her duties had been carried out and completed there, but here it was a much different story. Here, she was no one of consequence; she'd done nothing worthy of praise or merit, and so all of her grand titles and achievements meant little In this new playing field.

She figured that opening up to him was the easiest way to coax a little conversation out of him. Even if he caught on, even if he refused to accept her company, Liadrin was persistent. Age offered her a much greater amount of patience than the average human, and in circumstances like this it came in handy.

Yoite blinked at the mention of war. It seemed more and more like war was something that was common in all worlds and he distantly wondered if there was even one that was peaceful. It wasn't just his world that was endlessly scarred, but this one as well and many others. Maybe the universe was just scarred. It was a little depressing, and there was also the fact that even with all these bad things, there were still people who cared for the world and it confused him, why people kept on trying. It would always confuse him he figured. It was just too weird, that people kept caring for the scarred world that just kept on getting worse thanks to wars and hate.

He curled up again, just a little more to stay warmer. He didn't speak, but instead just looked at the other, showing that he was at least listening to her. After all, he wasn't the type to talk about himself much, if at all. Even Miharu back home and Yukimi... They hadn't known him either, even if they had been close. Well, as close as Yoite would let them anyway. Besides, they'd forgotten him now, so none of that even mattered any more, and there was no need for him to speak of the past, since he wasn't supposed to have one any more, with the erasure back home. He could still remember everything, but all of that was never supposed to have happened, just as he was never supposed to have been born. The fact that he was here and living was still a mystery to him.

Liadrin predicted that he would remain silent. His reaction showed her at least a little of what he was thinking, which was more than enough to satisfy her curiosity. As young as he was, he knew of war, whether by direct experience or word of mouth. Still, it was impossible to determine whether war was the cause of his severely introverted personality or if there was some other catalyst involved.

"My name is Liadrin, by the way. Since we're going to be seeing each other from here on out," she said, stressing that they would be crossing paths as more of an expectation as opposed to coincidence,"Why don't you tell me yours?"

Just as she was watching him, he was also watching her, and he was trying his best not to show too much emotion, trying his best to not let his actions reveal too much about him. That he was a quiet person was easy to tell, but when people began looking past that it became a bother, because then they would start to know him a little better at least. Yukimi was kind of like that, just chatting away and looking back at him to see how he reacted. This reminded Yoite very much about that, only Liadrin wasn't talking as much as Yukimi always did. Yukimi could talk for hours and hours if Yoite let him, and the only way he had gotten him to stop was to throw the nearest item at his head.

Another pause, as she asked for his name. Yoite wasn't even sure what to respond to that. Yoite was Yoite and he still referred to himself by that name, but Yukimi was the one who had given that name to him and Miharu had been the one who'd helped him realize that he only needed to be Yoite and not someone else, but... Maybe it wasn't his name any more, just like Sora wasn't his name. But still. Yoite... It was a name he didn't quite want to let go of. His connection to what had been, even if it would be better if there was no connection at all, since he was supposed to not exist. But for as long as he did, he was the ninja named Yoite, a boy with a cat's name. "... My name is Yoite."

"Yoite."

She repeated it a few times to herself, admiring the way it sounded. "That is a very nice name, you know. The sort of name given to a prince."

Liadrin smiled brightly, her eyes squinting from it. She had his name, something more valuable than most people realize. Now she could call on him whenever she needed to check and see if he was all right, for a small chat, even a simple meal.

"So, noble Yoite. Would you like to join me for a cup of tea sometime?"

Yoite almost made a sound of amusement. A prince... He wasn't even male. Not physically anyway. Being neither male nor female, he couldn't be a prince or a princess. He couldn't be anything except a god of death, a bringer of misfortune and darkness, something that took away the happiness of others, something hated and disgusting that the world was better off without. He was not noble, he was nothing except a nuisance of a reaper. It was all he was. All he could ever be. He was just a creature meant to fade away into the dark and stay gone until the next time he had orders, and then he would extinguish another life and disappear like the wind in the night. Just like a ghost.

It was what it meant after all. Yoite. Wind of the Night. Given to him by Yukimi who had thought the name fitting for someone like him. That was why Yoite liked it so much. It just fit him. That was why the name was the first word he had uttered after being put in Yukimi's care. Yukimi had said it, he had repeated it and spoken to the man for the first time. And so he had a name of his own, and not the name of someone he could never be.

"... Not noble." He said, voice more quiet than before, as he curled up a little more, looking thoughtful, yet somewhat sad. "... Maybe sometime."

"Sometimes the way we see ourselves is not at all the truth of things." She sighed, running a hand through her hair as she turned her focus back on the sky.

"Perhaps you are blinding yourself to reality."

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I AM SORRY THIS IS LATE... I worked 9 hours today and had a big stress-stupidity-idiot-self-issue :<

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