Tifa & Sparkles (Darkhunter)

[Tifa Lockhart]

Andraste remained silent for several long minutes before she gave a soft giggle, obviously amused in some strange way.
"I don't think anyone's ever spoken so politely to me," she looked up at him again, still obviously shaken, but she seemed to be improving.
"The couch is pretty comfy..." she said as she slowly got to her shaky feet. She moved cautiously over to the cupboard, from which she fetched a roll of glad-wrap. She covered her dinner and promptly put it in the fridge... she'd definitely lost her appetite tonight.
She was admittedly a little nervous about having this strange man stay in her house overnight... but at the same time she felt like she could trust him... and it was certainly better than being alone after what she had just seen. She couldn't see herself sleeping anyway...

[Sparkles]

Bemused, Rayn glanced back to Andraste and found himself hinting at the edges of a smile to the sound of her delicate tinkling. "The couch it is" he tilted his head slightly to the side in an informal bow, "If you need me.... if you feel uneasy, i would appreciate it if you could wake me up." he left without another word and made his way down to the 1st floor where he would move the couch so that no matter which windows were opened, the sunlight would not reach him while he was asleep.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Andraste watched her strange new guardian leave for the lounge room before she moved again. She flitted quickly to the cupboard to grab herself a salada cracker before making a break for her room, particularly nervous of her windows.

When she reached her bedroom she stared at her bed for a long moment, admiring the neatly folded sheets and the warm doona...
Her instincts won over her logic though, and as soon as she was in her nightgown she grabbed her pillow from the bed and dragged it with her underneath.
It was dusty underneath her bed, and she sneezed once or twice as she slid under so that she was completely concealed. It was nice and dark under her bed, secure, cramped and dark. Despite the dust and the cold floorboards, she was actually more comfortable here than she would have been in her bed.
So there she lay curled, her pillow hugged close to her.

[Sparkles]

The next evening, Rayn opened his eyes to find his surroundings silent. He rolled slightly to make sure that he could tell if the light had receded in the event that the curtains had been opened up during the day.

Rayn sat up on the couch and habitually ran his hand through his hair. Looking around he noticed Andraste's absence... surely she hadn't left for work without him.. he'd pegged her to be a lot smarter than that. Bristly walking around her home and then up to the top floor where her bedroom was, he listened carefully. Opening her bedroom door, he finally heard her muffled breathing and relaxed.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Andraste had stayed in her room all day long, she hadn't even come out from under her bed. In fact she'd got herself a book and spent the whole day curled up under there reading. She'd gone rigid when she heard the door open, terrified of who it might be. Then she remembered who had stayed to protect her, and so she moved peeking out carefully.
It was him, like she suspected. "You stayed all day?" she murmured.

[Sparkles]

"I'm allergic to sunlight..."...
Rayn frowned, his forehead creasing in a way that could almost be considered concern, "Why are you underneath your bed?" he asked in a disapproving tone while still doing nothing more than standing in the doorway, his hands now behind his back as he stared at her in the most peculiar way, as if he were trying to figure her out.

[Tifa Lockhart]

"It's cozy under here?" she offered, pausing to sneeze away the dust that had accumulated in her nostrils over the long day of reading. She'd practically finished her book already.
She crawled out from beneath the bed and threw her pillow back up into its proper place. She then sat cross-legged on the floor, looking up at her peculiar new guardian.
"I never did believe in the under-the-bed monster like most children."

[Sparkles]

Rayn merely quirked an eyebrow at her explanation and let it rest there. Where she chose to sleep was none of his business. "Although it would be more.. convenient.. if you stayed inside and just didn't let anything inside, I'm betrayed to remind you that it's now evening. Don't you have work?"

[Tifa Lockhart]

"Yeah... i know," she sighed, not looking so keen on going herself. She couldn't just not go though, and it was too late to ring up and call in sick. She stood up and brushed herself off - she'd gotten dressed at some point during the day. She was in a baggy pair of black jeans and a purple vest-style top. Not particularly flashy. She moved over to a mirror that hung on her wall and quickly adjusted her hair and straightened the creases in her top. She then scooped her bag off of its hook and moved past him and out the door, brushing him only slightly as she moved by.
She went to the kitchen first, rummaging through the cupboards for something quick to eat, she found herself a packet of chips. Not the healthiest alternative, but it was quick... she usually ate a proper meal when she got home before heading to bed.
She ate them as she walked towards the door, pausing to see if he was following.

[Sparkles]

Rayn, having slept in what he was now wearing, was already dressed for the night ahead of him. He followed Andraste to the door and opened it for her before stepping out into the warm night air. He remained silent, walking a few steps behind her the entire way to her workplace and waited for her co-worker to turn up (to let her feel more at ease - although it would make no difference). Standing inside the book shop, just inside the door, Rayn stared out into the rapidly darkening night. "What time does your shift end?"

[Tifa Lockhart]

The moment they'd arrived and she'd greeted her co-worker, Andraste had set about unpacking several boxes of new shipment books.
"Well... Usually about oneish..." she replied slowly, glancing over at her workmate, but they seemed to be showing no interest in her strange companion. "Sometimes earlier if we run out of work."

[Sparkles]

Although he wasn't sure if she saw the movement, Rayn nodded briefly before exiting the shop. He rounded the corner into an alley way before making his way to the rooftops. How nice it would be to be able to call someone to watch over her while he could go and retrieve some of his favoured weapons from his arsenal. He had some on him, but none quite suited to the job he wanted to do.
Opening his mind to the thoughts of those outside of the book store, Rayn was hit with a multitude of different voices. However, from practise, he managed to numb those that were distinctly human as he lay back on a section of tiled roof that could not be viewed from the ground.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Andraste continued to work, pushing her curiosity about her protector aside. She could ponder him later, once the new releases had been displayed in their place at the front of the store.

[Sparkles]

(fast forward)

Rayn hadn't stayed to survey from the roof the entire night up until this point. He'd just made sure that he was close enough to the shop to make sure there was no daimon activity nearby.

At 11.30 on the minute, the bell in the store rang quietly, indictating the staff that a customer was entering the store.
Having not payed any attention to detail when he'd brought Andraste to work, Rayn took in the store's size as he stood at the entrace. It was smaller than he'd imagined for the size of the population in the area. Without a glance to the counter or a word spoken, he moved to the back of the store. Dressed in what he was (black wifebeater, leather pants, biker boots, black sharply spiked upper right arm cuff and powerful aura) he stood out against the pastle shelving, dull carpet and dusty books in the corner of the store. Out of curiosity, he retrieved one of the books from the shelf. Turning it to examine the cover, he wipes the heavily laden dust off before looking down at an image of an ancient battle field in course with the title "Ancient Civilisations" in glaring red scripted at the top of the cover.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Andraste's work-mate looked up eagerly when the bell rang. Neither of them really understood why they worked in a book-store that was open until 1am every day. No one really came to buy books that late, besides the occasional somewhat eccentric author who'd torn apart every bookstore within a hundred kilometers trying to find an illusive reference they needed. So it wasn't that surprising that she looked disappointed when it was just the strange man who'd accompanied Andy to the shop earlier that night.
"Who's he?" she murmured over to Andy, nodding her head towards the leather clad beauty who perused the back shelves.
"Um... he's just a friend who's staying at mine for a few days," Andy explained hesitantly, not really having decided on any other story. "He didn't feel comfortable staying home without me being there."
"Well, he seems to like our ancient history section," the other girl drawled before returning to her game of snake that she was playing on her mobile phone.

Andraste stood from where she'd been kneeling to rearrange some books on a bottom shelf and moved to where he was at the back of the shop.
"Is everything alright...?" she asked.