paixaorpg | A Definetly-NOT-Going-to-be-Sweet-or-Nothing Reunion [Completed]

The aforementioned air headed vassal was doing her utmost best not completely fade into the narrow alleyway she had steadily inched towards over the past few hours. Thoughts of petty thieves, corrupt prinnies, and other such fancible notions conceivable only by a mind such as Flonne's cast a shadow over every individual that passed her...and made them fearful. The only thing keeping her from breaking for the road, tears streaming down her cheeks, was the continuous reminder of Laharl's words. Stay put.

Really, it was almost embarassing. She was supposed to protect him, not the other way around...right? The occasional thought of, 'Some vassal I am', was content to haunt her when she allowed her eyes to fall to the ground. Every few seconds, she would look up again, only to be disappointed.

Flonne sighed, dropping her gaze again as she took a step back. "Laharl..."

Darkness was coming now, and a chill was in the air. He looked only annoyed as he could see his own breath. Great ... just great. It's not that the cold really bothered him, it was just another annoyance to add to the long list of ones he had growing.

Shifting to one side of the street to avoid a sudden influx of the bystandards coming down the street, it was only luck that he paused to glance over and caught sight of long blond hair, crowned with a familiar bunny-eared shaped bow.

Stopping dead in his tracks, he turned to look across the street as he took in the subject of his search. Relief welled up from deep inside him, but he fought to keep the emotion deep down, where it was meant to belong, and tried to keep it from playing across his expression.

Her downcast eyes not having caught sight of him yet, he found himself speechless and still for a long moment. His voice caught in his throat, as that strange feeling deep in him stirred again.

After a moment he finally worked something through his lips as he stepped forward towards her, sounding by far softer than he usually did, "Flonne."

It was a voice she would have recognized anywhere; yet, there was something different about it, a softness to it that, at any other time, would have been her immediate focus. There was no cheerful remark, no teasing about forbidden concern. The moment her crimson eyes confirmed what she already knew to be true, she tensed...only to step forward and throw her arms about the unsuspecting Laharl.

"L-Laharl!" Flonne sobbed, unable to contain herself. She knew he'd scold her for it. He always did, but...well, talking over journals and seeing someone one had been worried about for some time were two very different things. She tried to stop the tears from coming, but her small frame only shook as she tried to find words. "I...and.."

Crimson met crimson, as their gaze met for a moment, and next thing he knew she was basically colliding into him, her arms wrapping around him. It took all he could to avoid stumbling over, as Flonne was a little taller than him.

"Eeeugh! F-Flonne!" he cried, his voice cracking into higher tones, the softness long gone now. Stiffing at her touch, he tried to pry her away from him, "AauuugH .. G-get off! You know I can't stan... I ..."

His words fell away as he felt a wetness on his shoulder, causing him to halt his actions. "D-dammit Flonne, don't CRY! You .. you idiot, there's nothing to cry about! Don't be stupid!" he grumbled at her, panicking a bit at her sudden display of emotion.

He wasn't good at dealing with this stuff! And for some deep reason he couldn't place a finger on, he couldn't stand seeing her cry like this. "SO ... S-STOP!" he attempted to order, sounding a little helpless as to what he could do to shut her up, "I've found you now, so there's no reason for the stupid waterworks!"

Flonne was reluctant to pull away, but she did so nonetheless. Laharl never had been very good at handling hugs...or anything that was both emotional and positive. His response only served as a reminder of this unforgettable fact, prompting her to seperate from him again.

"I-I'm sorry, Laharl." She looked at the ground, attempting to brush away a tear or so with her white sleeve. She attempted a smile, even tried to sound like her normal cheerful self. "I just...I was worried about you and," she paused, looking down for a moment, "I...I missed you."

Glancing off to the side, she found herself sputtering rather quickly, "You really should have left a note or something!"

Finding he was free, he rubbed the dampness from his shoulder, with a sound of disgust, before he turned back to the fallen angel.

"S-sorry? Don't be sorry! You have nothing to be sorry about, geez," he grumbled looking away. He then crossed his arms with exasperation, "I COULDN'T leave a note! I dozed off or something, and next I knew, I was here. I told you this. It's not like I planned to end up here, hrmf!"

He glanced back at her and let out a inaudible sigh. He could tell she was faking being alright. He knew her real smiles, from her fake ones. Stupid, emotional Love Freak.

"Just .. stop it okay? Look .. I might have .. kind of .. was annoyed at your lack of being here. Okay?" he said to her, with only the sort of poorly chosen wording he could spout out. Peering closer at her face again, he looked at her with a hidden emotion playing through his eyes, that he wouldn't reveal. Grabbing the end of his scarf suddenly, he lifted it to her cheek, dabbing away the last of the dampness. "There. No vassal of mine is going around with their face all damp with tears, tch," he muttered, his voice momentarily softer again.

As suddenly as he'd gotten closer, he was stepping away, his arms folded to his chest. "Stupid Love Freak ... C'mon, lets get out of here," he told her with a slight smirk on his face, his voice back to it's normal tone.

A faint smile appeared upon Flonne's face at his confession, but it was eclipsed by a wonder when his scarf was lifted to her cheek. She hadn't expected that, not that she minded, and it won something of a smile, that and the audible strangeness in his voice. If it was a dream, she could handle not waking up...but she knew that it wasn't. It was real...and that made it even better.

Her smile remained even after he stepped back and took his regular tone. Yes, that was the Laharl she knew.

"Okay, Laharl!" Flonne jumped to, leaning forward slightly with a bright smile. "Where are we going?"

Kinda rather glad she'd gotten over all that sad crap, he pulled out the journal, flipping it open and loading the map. He held it out to show her, "We're ... around here I think," he said point at the screen with a finger, tracing it along to the Actua Are down at the southeast. "And we gotta get ... all the freaking way over there." He sounded terribly annoyed as he realized how far they had to go.

That would take, what? An hour? Two? Ugh. Two hours... alone ... with Flonne. This was going to be WEIRD. They'd been kinda .. a trio for so long. He couldn't remember a time when he'd ever been alone with just Flonne. Etna was always right along with them. This was going to take some getting used to.

"It's a hotel. Not really worthy of an overlord, but it'll have to do till we find somewhere ... better," he explained as he started to walk down the street, leading the way.

"A hotel?" Flonne repeated, following semi-closely at his side. He may have found her, but she knew very well that it was easy to get lost in unfamiliar places. She hadn't forgotten her previous experience and had no intention of losing Laharl...or letting him lose her, for that matter. "Is it very expensive..?"

As if that wasn't enough, Laharl wasn't the only one thinking of Etna. Flonne missed the spunky redhead. She had never allowed a moment's silence...unless she was sleeping, but she always made up for it later.

Laharl gave her a smirk, "Not if you know how to make a deal." He wouldn't tell her he threatened to flatten the place if they didn't except his measley amount to take the room for as long as he wanted it. It was a detail she didn't have to know.

"Don't have the place to myself, unfortunetly. I agreed to let Timon stay .. and the lil' rat got me to .. ugh ... let him have a 'friend' of his stay too," he grumbled. Obviously he was still rather annoyed at the whole incident involing the meerkat and Ai. "They're somewhere around ... they went to find food," he explains with a sigh.

He'd kinda forgotten about the situation waiting for them ... finding out Flonne and Etna were here had kinda distracted him from the whole thing.

"Ooh! Timon the Meer..kat?" Flonne beamed, proud she had recalled the strange word. She allowed her arms to sway as she walked along, nearly marching in her happy little way. "I get to meet him, riiight? And..what do you mean 'friend'?"

There was 'friend', and then there was friend. Knowing which version Laharl was talking about wasn't always the easiest thing, but Flonne was not fond of the grumbling and the look upon his face. Just what exactly was he talking about! She looked at him through half lidded eyes almost expectantly.

"Tch, yeah .. you'll meet him alright. He's small, but he makes up for it with loudness," the overlord mutters. It would undoubtly amuse the fallen angel later when she would undoubtly notice how much the pair were alike.

Now ... how to explain Ai. That was a thought Laharl hadn't considered, and Flonne was likely to react stupidly to this. Especially with the look she was giving him.

He cringed slightly, "OI! Look it wasn't *my* idea. Timon's just .. guh. I just wanted to get away and sleep okay? She's some girl. Well .. girl part angel apparently. Tch .. maybe you'll like her. She's all CURVY and aaauuugh ..." he visably shudders, a sign of his weakness at work. "I haven't made up my mind if I'll let her stick around after tonight even ... So .. don't .. leap to stupid conclusions!"

Incoming: flood of excuses! The information that followed it wasn't exactly the most pleasant, either, in the fallen angel's opinion. Just what did he mean "well .. girl part angel apparently"? How would he know! Why did he even care to tell her that specific detail! And...why did he say it like that!

"Maybe I wouldn't if you'd stop hiding things from me!" Flonne exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly and walking a little bit ahead. "There's only room for one girl part angel around here!"

Right. Laharl wanted her around...he'd even said that he kinda maybe minded her being absent! He wouldn't try to replace her or anything...

Well, he'd called that. He *knew* she'd take that the wrong way. Sometimes Flonne was so predictable. Picking up his step, he moved up beside her.

"OI! Flonne, I'm NOT hiding things! I ONLY JUST FOUND YOU to even TELL you!" he cried at her in frustration.

"Just ... look .. I mean .. she had big red angel wings. It was kinda of damn obvious what she was. I asked if she was an angel and she said she was half angel, half human okay? That's all I know," he mutters, wondering why he's even having to explain himself to her at all.

"They're NOT my vassals .. You ARE. ... You're my only vassal now it seems..." he finally says, falling into an uncomfortable silence.

Flonne had flinched when he had raised his voice, but then she did kind of deserve it. If she hadn't thought so ill of him or the stranger, he wouldn't have had to. There really was nothing like a lack of sleep to deprive one of rationality. In her case, it was often worse than average.

And there was that dreadful silence again...

She looked at him, tail suddenly twitching in an almost...devious manner as her eyes gained a rather strange light. "That doesn't sound like the Laharl I know. I'm sure Etna will come around! In the meantime, you have me! And...you can always find more vassals. I'm sure there's some potential wandering around somewhere in Paixao. We just have to find it!"

Flonne looked to the skies, a wide grin having overtaken her face. "I can see it now...! Ooh, look," she paused, blinking as she pointed to a few stars peeking out from the faux heavens, "stars! How pretty!"

"Wha? What do you mean? I'm perfectly me!" he answers, with a huff pretending to be insulted, but .. he knows what she means. He hasn't felt like himself much. Between having his past reminded of and pryed at .. his lack of vassals and just everything. This whole situation has made him WAY too ... for lack of a better word... emotional. He's tired ... it shows in his face and his voice. A long sleep would do the overlord a lot of good.

His face slowly returns to it's usual smirk as he glances back to Flonne after a moment, "Hmm .. maybe ... Perhaps she really does just need a good beating to the head. Heh heh... And, I tried when I first got, but .. people here are .. just .. gah. I don't get them Flonne. I mean, yeah there's these idiots who live here, but then there's others like us, from different worlds. They're all so .. so .. difficult."

His smile widens a bit though, "But maybe your right .. heh. Or maybe we'll get lucky and some prinnies will end up here or something." He could hope.

The blue-haired demon then blinks as Flonne suddenly starts looking to the sky and he follows his gaze upwards. What? Oh .. stars. Heh .. typical Love Freak to be interested by merely something shiney. Uninterested himself by them, his gaze returns instead to the fallen angel beside him. He could never tell her straight up, maybe it's just the lack of sleep, but ... he really is glad she's here.

"I hope so." The fallen angel piped with a smile. "I kind of miss the prinnies...even if it's impossible to tell them apart."

She turned her gaze to Laharl and smiled brightly before guarding a yawn. Shaking her head, Flonne continued to walk at his side, glancing about at their new surroundings.

"How much further?" Flonne asked, curiosity prompting her to address the matter of we've-been-walking-forever-and-a-day.

Having a look around he brought up the map again, and looked thoughtfully around. Ah yeah .. this was close to the cafe .. so .. they were. Ugh.

"We're .. bit over halfway there," he muttered, not looking so happy himself. They could stop at the cafe to check if Timon and Ai were there, but that'd take time and just delay getting to the room even more. He wanted to sleep soon dammit, so he didn't bother suggesting it.

"Gotta keep moving, Love Freak. C'mon .. keep up," he instructed, picking up his pace a bit.

The fallen angel fell into step with relative ease, despite the fact that her feet were silently cursing her. At least they were almost there.

"Okay." She said, red heels clicking with every step. Another yawn, fortunately smaller, was guarded with due care. "Num num..."

Geez .. she thought he wasn't noticing her yawns, but he was. Hell, it was making him feel even more tired. He really hoped he wouldn't have to bloody carry her there.

"Flonne? Oi, Flonne," he said .. repeating since he wasn't sure she had heard him the first time. "... Do we need to stop?" They were getting much closer now, but they still weren't there yet. Why the heck did Timon bring him to the hotel way over here? After looking at the map several times more, he'd realized there was another hotel more to the center of the city. That would have been a hell of a lot more convient. Oh well ... too late now.

"Mmn?" The fallen angel looked at him through half lidded eyes, then shook her head wildly to rid herself of the nagging desire to fall over and sleep on the sidealk itself. "N-no! I'm fine!"

"What about you?" She asked, peering at the young Overlord. "Are you okay?" At least one of them wasn't falling asleep whilst walking...

"Uh huh... Riiight," the blue-haired overlord replies, not looking very convinced at all. He could see she was almost half asleep.

"Huh? Me? I'm fine, you're the one who looks ready to fall over, Idiot," he mutters, and grabs her by the wrist with one of his hands. He's tired, but not as much as she is. "I think we're nearly there," he says as he points point down the road with his other. "Just gotta get there, hrmf. Think ya can least manage that?"

Flonne beamed at Laharl, suffocating a yawn before it had the chance to escape. "I'll do my best, Laharl."

Somehow, she managed to keep up with him despite the fact that her feet were ready to fall off. Perhaps she should have worn shorter heels, but there wasn't anything she could do about it at that particular moment.

"Almost there," she murmured quietly.

"For hells sake it's about time," he muttered mostly to himself, as they arrived finally at the Actua Are. "There we're here," he muttered to his vassal.

Pausing only a moment, to make sure Flonne wasn't sleeping on her feet, he steered the sleepy fallen angel through the door. Pointedly ignoring the clerk at the counter, he contiuned to lead the Flonne into the elevator.

Pushing the button for the top floor, he waited eagerly to arrive at the floor, so this whole stupid journey would be over.

Flonne wasn't sure how much longer she could keep her eyes open, or if she would even make it through the elevator ride. A few minutes seemed like eternity, prompting her to lean back against the wall as they continued their ascension. Somewhere along the way, the thought occured that it was rather funny for a demon and a fallen angel to be ascending. She smiled wearily at the thought that Seraph Lamingtom might have laughed at that, not out of spite...but simply because she had thought of it.

"Mmn..!" She clutched Kerykeion again upon realizing that it had been slipping from her hands. Her eyes fluttered open and the fight to keep them open began once again. She murmured softly, "Maybe we'll reach the stars."

This elevator was too damn slow. His arms crossed once more, he glanced at Flonne and was exasperated to see her almost falling asleep against the back of the elevator.

"Hmph .. the stars? It's not THAT high, Love Freak," he said with a smirk. She was tired alright ... to the point of delusions.

The door opened to the floor and he stepped into the hallway, glancing back to the sleepy fallen angel, making sure she was still following. Fumbling a moment to find the key, he stepped up to the door and shoved it into the lock, and with a clich, he pushed the door open.

He stood just inside the door waiting for the Love Freak to come in so he could push the door shut again.

The suite itself was fairly large .. he'd "requested" their best afterall. A large center sitting room with a bathroom with two attached bedrooms. What had seemed so large though, not looked to be still not enough space since there were now three beings to sleep here. (The fourth, Timon, didn't much count since he was so small.) Laharl didn't know how this was going to work, but he sure wasn't going to lose his bed ... no WAY he was sleeping on the couch. That much he knew.

"Ooh, how pretty!" The sleepy fallen angel exclaimed, suffocating another yawn with her hand as she stumbled forward and into the room where she promptly fell to the floor. "I-I'm..o..kay..."

She yawned again, unable to find the energy to shield it. Somehow, she managed to push herself off the floor. Flonne dusted herself off a bit, looking around..mildly curious despite her sleepiness.

"Hm..?" Her crimson eyes turned to Laharl again.

He closed the door as soon as she was in and watched exasperatedly as she had a trip to the floor. Seeing she was perfectly fine, just sleepy, he walked past her shaking his head.

He glanced around a moment then back to her, suddenly feeling terribly .. awkward. Him .. and Flonne .. alone. It was really way too .. weird. He wasn't sure he liked it or not.

"Hmm? What?" he responded to her questioning sound, not sure what exactly it was she was hming about.

"Where do I sleep?" Flonne asked, her voice having lost a great deal of its usual pomp so that she was -- heaven and hell forbid -- remotely quiet.

Sleep was just about the only thing on her mind in that moment...

... A long awkward silence fell across the room as Laharl tried to figure out how to answer that.

"Hmph .. well .. I ... Hell if I should know," he finally grumbled. "That's my bed," he said gesturing at said the room, "And I guess Timon's friend was in there, hmph ... but .. I don't know. I don't care. Find somewhere yourself."

It was the sort of answer one might normally expect from Laharl, who promptly with that disapeared into 'his' room.

Taking a moment to glance one last time at the journal thing, and answer Timon who'd suddenly messaged him. When done he tossed the journal aside onto a table and kicking his shoes off, disapeared under the covers of the bed. He was done caring about anything, he just wanted to SLEEP.

"Ooh, what to do," Flonne murmured, wringing her hands as she surveyed her options. "Can't take someone else's bed...someone..might have the couch..."

It was a debate that lasted longer than she could keep her eyes open. The fallen angel had finally resolved to ask Laharl what he thought was best, but only made it as far as the edge of his bed before falling into the comfortable mattress.

The soft comforter defeated her, stole her away from consciousness, and whisked her off to dreamland.

The blue-haired demon had nearly dozed off, but not deep yet enough. He became vaguely aware of movement at the end of the bed. Dammit... Curiousity got to him and stirred him back into wakefullness. Blinking his red eyes open, he relucantly dragged his head from the pillow to glance over.

Oh for hells ... There was Flonne, at the end of his bed, asleep. That .. that .. Stupid Love Freak! Should he try to wake her? It seemed like way too much trouble and she was probably far gone now. Argh .. Timon was going to give him no end of grief tomorrow, despite his innocence in the matter. Oh well, it wasn't HIS fault she went and fell asleep THERE.

With a sigh of defeat, he grabbed a corner of the top most cover and folded what he could of it back over her. The things he did for the idiot fallen angel .. hmph...

Settling back against the pillow, he closed his eyes and soon slipped off to sleep.

A few hours had passed since Flonne had collapsed into -- well, she wasn't quite sure, but it didn't take her long to realize that it was comfortable. She would have slept through the whole night, undisturbed, had it not been for the revival of a persistent scratchiness in her throat.

Only barely aware of her surroundings, the fallen angel pushed the comforter back and stumbled out of the room. She dragged herself to the small kitchenette in the room and opened a cabinet, pulling a cup from its hiding place using Kerykeion. She turned the handle of the faucet and filled the cup a bit, then turned it off and took a long drink.

Cup in hand, Flonne made her way back to the room from whence she had emerged, eyes barely even half open. Her senses were muddled and her awareness of the figure beneath the sheets was non-existent. Placing the cup on the bedside table, the fallen angel climbed right into the bed and under the covers, melting into the warmth she found there with a soft "mm" where she found her dreams impatient to steal her away again.

Usually Laharl would have no problem sleeping the night away ... heck even several days away if he felt like it, but he wasn't in his coffin in his castle. He was in some strange city, in a strange room, in a strange bed and on to of it all Goldilocks had decided to crawl into one of the three bear's beds, without making sure the bed wasn't already occupied.

Situations like this were just the absolute spawning ground for dreams, and it was no exception for the demon overlord. Or nightmares as his case was. He moaned and mumbled in his sleep, little of it very intelligible, until it seemed to hit a peak with a soft cry of the name of a certain fallen angel left his lips, and stirred himself with a jerk from his sleep.

"Just a dream..." he muttered to himself as he rubbed his eyes, finding nothing but pitch-blackness.

Disoriented, he rolled over and settled against, what he thought, was the inside wall of his coffin. It felt unusually warm and comforting, so he almost dozed back off, until something slowly dawned on him and instead of falling back to sleep he found himself waking up more. As nice as it kinda was, the wall of his coffin wasn't this warm, ever. This wasn't right.

Lifting an arm up, he went to touch the lid, but ... it wasn't there. Huh? Wait, that's right. He wasn't in the Netherworld at all! He was in a bed at that hotel. Hmph, so it wasn't all a dream. Damn. Wait, then what was he laying against?

He brushed his fingers across the "wall" and met soft fabric then... skin ... of a bare shoulder. Of someones bare shoulder. His eyes widened in the darkness, as he suddenly became WIDE awake. FLONNE.

"EUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGH!"

Faster than the blink of an eye, Laharl was out of the bed and, pressed against a wall, to get as far back from the bed and Flonne as he could get. If Flonne was asleep, she probably wasn't now.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, LOVE FREAK?!!?!!?!" he cried, in absolute, utter horror.

Flonne liked sleep. In fact, she liked sleep a lot, especially when she got a full night of the stuff. Unfortunately for the sleepy vassal, a certain overlord apparently didn't like sleep, or letting his vassals sleep, for that matter. The screaming resulted in a half sit-up, half jump to the ceiling, followed by a rapid tangle session in the covers which ended with a loud thud upon the floor -- a far from pleasant landing.

"Ooow!" The fallen angel whined loudly, her crimson eyes glistening with tears. "Wh-what did you do that for?"

She paused, rubbing her eyes as she fought to suppress a yawn. "..Are we under attack???"

Panting slowly as he worked to recover from his shock and calm down, he pulled away enough from the wall to cross his arms.

"N-NO! We're NOT under attack... What the HELL were you doing in my bed? R-right NEXT to me!" he spluttered, still sounding rather freaked out. As he spoke, he reached through the darkness to switch on a side table light, squinting at the sudden burst of light, but at least he could see better now.

He turned back to Flonne ... and oh. THAT'S what that thud was and why she owed. His expression softened a little at her form on the floor, with some of the bed sheets still tangled around her - not to mention the glisten in her eyes.

With a sigh he stepped over to her squatting down to her level, "... y-you... okay? Tch, ya didn't fall that hard, didja Love Freak?"

Flonne looked up at Laharl, trying to blink away the tears that wanted to keep coming. The perils of sleepiness combined with the steadily resonating pulse within her head tempted her to yell, but she couldn't quite find the strength to do so. She wasn't really in much of a mood to start yelling at Laharl, not that yelling was a very nice thing to do anyway.

After all, she had been in his bed, even if she couldn't quite remember how she got there.

"I-I'm okay." She said after a moment, nodding her head lightly as she made a brave attempt to avoid forecasting a heavy rain. "I'm sorry, Laharl..."

"D-don't apologise! ... Stupid Love Freak ..." he muttered, with a shake of his head. Stupid, stupid, stupid Love Freak...

With a long, drawn out sigh, he looked at her for a moment, then suddenly rose and bent down, scooping the fallen angel from the carpet floor with ease. He then unceremoniously plopped her onto the bed.

He crossed his arms after with a huff, "There! Just ... Go back to sleep, idiot!"

Pausing only a moment to snag up his journal, he stalked out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him, and plopped himself on the couch.

An order was an order, but, after what seemed like an eternity to the fallen angel, sleep was decidedly not an option. She had pulled the covers from the ground and back onto the bed, casting them over herself after he'd left. Not only had Laharl woken her up, but he'd left, too, and left a cold spot on the mattress, too! Warming it up was going to take forever.

Flonne sighed and reached for her journal on the bedroom table, pulling it into her makeshift tent. Maybe there was something interesting to do on the journal system. She still had to put up a note for Miss Tifa and Miss Kidd, too. She could only hope they were alright, that they hadn't worked themselves up worrying over her...

"Huh?" She paused, eyes flickering as she found a rather interesting little conversation on the journal. Grinning, Flonne allowed her fingers free reign of the keyboard.

Taking up his journal he seated himself on the couch, and posted in frustration. Which was probably a bad move on his part, but he'd decided he didn't care, and while he responded a little more calmly to some of the comments, there was one more comment that made him stop in his tracks.

Etna.

Shit.

The whole escapade with Flonne had made him somewhat forget about that whole thing, but there she was, with a comment. He wasn't sure what to say to her. He hated to admit to himself, but he was somewhat worried. He didn't really want to piss her off more than she already was at him, but anything he said to her was liable to, so he replied somewhat cautiously, which didn't get anywhere in the end. She then posted to her own journal, which he read with a lot of interest, but it didn't give him much to go on either - other than she sounded as frustrated as he had when he'd arrived, heh. What he wouldn't have done for a prinny to pound too...

He mulled sometime over what to do. The past had been a lot on his mind today, as proved by the dream he'd had woken up from - dreaming of that day in Celestia had stirred up deep kept emotions he really could have done without tonight. His mother, father, almost Flonne ... now Etna ... why did people who were ... well ... somewhat important... to him leave?

He wanted to become a magnificent overlord! Friendship .. love.. compassion ... ugh. He stubbornly was still trying to not admit he felt them even in the smallest amount, but ... maybe ... it was growing more difficult. (It was all that stupid Love Freak's fault!) This whole business of being an overlord was harder than it seemed!

Maybe... though ... He looked a long moment at the screen blankly. ... maybe he should try it the way the Love Freak would tell him. The words of his mother's lessons long ago, echoed in his head too. So, compassion and .. ugh ... love huh? Blah! NO WAY! He wasn't going down that road but... He was liable to screw this up ... but ... maybe being somewhat ugh ... somewhat slightly nice .. maybe it was worth a try.

So he finally settled to write a note to her that hopefully wouldn't result in an argument. When the keyboard failed him, he took up the small pen and tried to write it by hand on the device. Insisting she come back wouldn't work he figured, so he tried to be a little more thoughtful of her side of things. He ended up scribbling out almost much as he wrote. Oh well ... there, he'd tried. Posting it privately to her, he waited for a response, and did not long after get one. Not much of one. Growing frustrated, he tried to not respond stupidly, but her final remarks didn't sit well with him. She'd barely said anything.

Exchanging more banter with Timon meanwhile on the pim, he had a growing feeling he'd failed ... miserably. Timon offering to actually help him, however, shocked him. Timon's plan was actually quite clever ... especially for being not a demon. It made him break the first true grin he'd made all night, excitement building inside him.

Out underhand Etna? The idea was extremely appealing, but could Timon pull it off? Not to mention could the meerkat still really be trusted? Well, he'd give him the benefit of the doubt, but ... Laharl wasn't THAT stupid. Yeah, he rushed head first into things, but ... he had to do this right. Just how? Well, either way he'd keep a close eye on Timon. He couldn't afford to screw up more by being careless.

He watched as Etna hook-lined-and-sunk Timon's message bait. Sheesh. He'd have thought it too easy, but Timon was pretty good at this stuff, he might've even been fooled by that... Okay, maybe more than likely, but no one had to know that.

(no subject)

overlords_wrath - 2006-12-10 22:42 (UTC) - Expand

Maybe they really were under attack and Laharl just didn't want to get her involved? Or maybe Laharl had a stomache ache? His yelling was the source of much confusion and curiosity on Flonne's part. She was quick to bring it up via the journals, pausing briefly from typing to stifle a yawn with a hand.

Shifting, she paused and sat up, ignoring the covers as they pulled on her hair and bow. Her fingers traveled to her heels, which she placed at the bedside before resuming her previous position. No sooner had she turned her eyes to the journal did moisture begin to gather at the edges of her crimson eyes. Why did Laharl have to be so mean?

She didn't like being by herself in that dark room...

Looking back at the journal to see if there was anything else to now read he blinked. Ahh? What was this... someone else replyi ... Oh crap. Flonne. She wasn't asleep at all! Damn Love Freak ...

And then he had a hunch he'd just heard sniffling from the bedroom. For hell's sake... Was that the fourth time tonight? What was with everyone actin' all screwed up tonight?

Tucking his journal under his arm after making a few more replies, he quietly pushed the door open, peeking into the, now dark again, room.

"Oi ... Flonne?"

Flonne tried very hard to put the tears out of her voice, but nearly tripped over a half-stifled sob. She had tried to be very discreet, even kept the lights off, but then...'ninja' wasn't exactly in the job description of a vassal.

"Yes..Laharl?"

Shaking his head, he slipped into the room, pushing the door back closed, and plopped onto the edge of the bed, "What the hell is wrong with you? This is, what, the fourth time you've cried today?"

Laharl wasn't very good at being subtle - not at all, but there was a small hint of concern in is voice .. if you squinted.

"Look .. if it's about what Timon said ... just ignore it. It's nothing important. He's just trying to... hmph.. annoy me." he added, crossing his arms grumpily. Stupid meerkat ... teasing him about feelings - that he did NOT-no-way have - for Flonne.

Every now and then, there came a point when Flonne found herself wondering what in the Seraph's name Laharl was talking about. This was one such point.

Fortunately, she found the cover to be a decent cover for her expression. She peeked out at him after a few seconds after closing her journal, brushing away her tears as best she could with her white sleeve.

"Is it really that bad?" She asked softly.

"Huh?" he uttered, now he confused about what she meant. "Bad? ... N-no. S'just ... annoying .. and look nevermind," he finally replied, then suddenly shoved his journal at her, "Look at this." He'd had it back open to the private note and short exchange he'd had with Etna.

"I tried to talk to Etna again ... tch," he sounded annoyed. He was obviously unpleased with the result. Stupid Etna... Why did she have to go and come here from some other time anyways?

"Timon's trying to see what he can find out ... but it sounds like she might be pretty serious about this stupid "Goddess of all Overlords" crap," he spat with a huff, but his voice betrayed an edge of seriousness to it.

Flonne took the journal in hand and proceeded to read through the conversation, listening to the obviously displeased Overlord all the while. Had she not had the pleasure of being his vassal, she might have completely missed the fact the fact that he was upset because he had lost a vassal...and not just any vassal, either. Etna was his first, as far as Flonne knew.

Then again, she could've been imagining it...because she wanted to believe it, to believe in Laharl.

"Etna has always been ambitious," the fallen angel commented softly, sighing. She bit her bottom lip, looking up at Laharl. "I really don't like this...maybe I should talk to her?"

"I don't think talking to her is any use, Flonne. I already tried, and like hell THAT accomplished anything," he replied the fallen angel, frustration in his voice again, "Her own journal post talked about killing demons ... she's serious... and when Timon got her to talk to him by offerin' her info on where I am, she was definitely interested. Tch..."

Shaking his head, he pulled his legs up onto the bed and pulled a pillow up behind his back as he rested against the headboard.

"I think I'm through with talking to her. If she decides to fight me, fine! I'll beat some sense into her stupid, delusional head!" he said with a huff, arms folded as usual to his chest. Despite outburst, he seemed quite serious about it. Apparently Laharl had actually been putting a fair amount of thought into this, despite coming to the conclusion he usually came to in in the end for such situations: violence. However, it was Etna they were dealing with, who could be a rather violent demon herself.

"My own vassal turned against me... hmph... figures it'd be Etna," he grumbled, "Anyways, Timon says he might have some sorta plan, won't tell me what till he gets back here."

Wringing her hands, the fallen angel released a near inaudible sigh and turned her eyes to the mattress. She didn't want Laharl and Etna to fight. Hopefully Timon - the "Meerkat" - would have a good plan to get the conflict resolved. It just wasn't a pleasant thought, particularly when one was craving the company of the Prinny Squad and a certain devious demon with pigtails. It was just too quiet without Etna...

Well, when Laharl wasn't cackling.

"I'm sure things will turn out okay." Flonne said softly, though it sounded more like she was trying to assure herself as she said it. "Somehow... you'll see."

Stay awake, Flonne! She begrudgingly forced herself to sit up, legs tangled despite being tucked under the covers. She looked at Laharl again and nodded suddenly, strongly.

"I still want to talk to Etna, though! It isn't over until the fat lady sings!" A pointed finger was flung into the air as a burst of shinies invaded her eyes. "Guardian Flonne will rescue Etna from the clutches of..." She paused, searching for the words. "Um....her..self?"

A nervous laugh escaped the mouth of the fallen angel as her hand dropped and she scratched the back of her head. "Well, that didn't come out quite right..."

Laharl shook his head with exasperation as he listened to Flonne. Stupid Love Freak being, as usual, stubbern as ever. Well, no sense arguing with her. It wouldn't get them anywhere. When the fallen angel had an idea set in her head, dissuading her was usually more trouble than it was worth.

"Hhm! Fine. You can try to talk to her if you want, but don't tell her what I just said! Or about Timon... Or where we are for that matter!" he ordered. Not because he distrusted Flonne, but last thing he needed was for her to ditz out and blab something. "Well, just don't say anything stupid, period. Got it?"

He gazed a moment longer at the blond, "Hmhmhm ... who knows, maybe she will listen to you."

Flonne and Etna had always seemed to get along in a odd sort of way. He didn't notice any particular abnormal hostility towards Flonne outta her, so maybe she would speak to the Love Freak. Well, then again, he wasn't about to place any bets on it.