Coming home

While Artorias' response and decision wasn't what she had hoped it would be, she did understand and she was content with the fact that she could be with Mercury at all. It did kind of make her regret making the decision to leave in the first place, but all she could do now was move forward, remember what she gained from the whole experience, and be excited about this next chapter in whatever form it took. She walked with Mercury back up toward the castle, the path feeling familiar and new all at once. She turned her gaze up to Mercury as he said she could den with him if she wished or they could arrange her own space if she'd prefer. She raised a brow at him as a little smirk pulled at the corner of her lips. He could be so serious sometimes and so matter of fact that it almost made her think he didn't care, but she knew better.

"Did you just casually invite me to move in with you?" she questioned teasingly, her smirk pulling into a full grin. "Actually, could I even call that an invite? That was more of a consent to me invading your space." Her tone was light and playful, making it clear she wasn't actually bothered by the bluntness of his approach. Things had been far more heavy and even disappointing than they had really anticipated today and she was ready to move on from that. She was rejoining the man that was quickly stealing her heart and making so much progress toward figuring out who she was and what she wanted out of her life. There was a lot to celebrate regardless of how things had gone and she fully intended to do just that.

"Task number one if I'm going to be living with you... We're going to loosen you up a bit and find whatever romantic bone might be hiding under that tough seafarer exterior of yours," she told him with an amused chuckle, her blue and green gaze shining with mirth. They walked into the castle courtyard and as they passed through the garden she bounded ahead a couple of steps until she was able to turn and face him, blocking his path to make him stop beneath one of the wisteria trees. "Now, lets try that again. Hmmm... I wonder where I'll stay... There's so many rooms in this big castle, how will I ever decide!" she said with a bit more drama than was really necessary, the faux expression of pondering and lamenting very nearly cracking underneath her own amusement as she challenged Mercury to actually ask her to move in with him.

"Speech"