Parce Qu'ils Croient

Where did the game stop, and reality began? It was getting difficult for him to tell. But she said she loved games, even if the rules were being written as they spoke- he had a hunch those were probably her favorite to play. His amber leer narrowed a bit as his attention was so easily trapped. Aresenn was conscious of it, aware of the path he wandered to certain catalyst. Though he followed it willingly. “I would say so.” He mused, unable to free himself from the allure. “But you can take as much time as you need to come up with your own conclusion, just wouldn’t want you to waste your time, that’s all.” He answered a little more lowly. Aresenn felt the draw to sit- it seemed that they weren’t in danger of going anywhere. Absinth must have felt the pull to do so at the same time as he- after she settled, he hesitantly did so as well.

When she answered his inquiry as to what information she was looking for, he was taken completely aback. Aresenn looked away from her then, to hide the stunned acknowledgement as it crossed his expression. How did she see him so clearly? Frankly, it scared the hell out of him. He cleared his throat before mumbling what first came to mind. “It’s not my own thoughts that are concerning.” Though he regretted it as soon as the words rolled off his tongue. He looked at her then- giving himself back to the emerald gaze he could so easily drown in. Honestly, to some degree he was afraid of himself. “What if I didn’t restrain myself, though? How do you open yourself up to something you have no idea how to control?” At what point did their conversation set to such a free fall in depth? They were just sparring. Now he felt like the entirety of his conscious being was being itemized and evaluated before him, and for one of the first times in his life, he felt seen.

And for one of the first times, he felt like he saw her. There was something genuine to her voice as she extended the desire for mutual acceptance. He slowly nodded, before his own conclusion on the matter entered his mind. “Don’t you think there is a reason why those like us don’t have friends?” He countered. In his reality, he had two others. Sephiran, who saw the worst in him, and demanded the worst out of him. Andromeda who saw his best, and he couldn’t stand the thought of breaking that illusion for her, though one day he knew that he would. Now, there was Absinth … what in god’s name was he supposed to do with her?

"Aresenn Praetor"