Tifa & Sparkles (Darkhunter)

[Tifa Lockhart]

Andy stepped into the room at Rayn's urging, her eyes giving it a quick once over before she turned back to him to listen to what he had to say. She nodded in order to show she understood, her eyes following the back and forth motion of the bolt on the door. She liked the fact that she could lock it...
"Thankyou..." she murmured softly, meandering slowly across the room to the bed, where she traced the lines in the carved wood of the four-poster with a finger. Her movements were slow and lethargic, like she'd been drinking or something.

[Sparkles]

"Okay... I'll see you tonight then.. feel free to walk around the house all you want - just don't leave. Good night" he closed the door softly in front of him and left her to go over everything that had happened in the day. He assumed she would need time to let her emotions out in her own way, without him over her shoulder.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Andy waited until she was certain Rayn was well and truly gone, before she sobbed again and stumbled into the bathroom. She immediately climbed into the shower - clothes and all - and let the water run all over her. She felt like she was covered in a grime she could never wash off. She'd sit there for quite some time, before finally dragging herself out and getting dry, casting her wet clothes aside and finding herself something to sleep in from the chest of drawers. She tried not to find it too strange that he had clothes that fit her perfectly waiting. She then grabbed the pillow and the rug off the bed, before crawling underneath it and curling up to sleep.

[Sparkles]

[skip to the the evening? post if you want to wake up first]

[Tifa Lockhart]

((It's your post, so you go.))

[Sparkles]

Rayn awoke the next evening to silence in the house. It was what he was used to since being in Australia, but not what he was accustomed to after spending the last years with Nick. He felt guilty. Nick may have been close to his 20s, but he was really just a big kid.
Roughly rubbing the heels of his hands over his eyes to clear them, Rayn forced his legs out of his bed and sat up.
His black rugs were crumpled on the floor at his feet; where they'd no doubt fallen during a night of reliving terrors.
It didn't take long for Rayn to equip himself. Leather jacket, leather pants, leather boots and buckels and a horde of hidden weapons (where does he put them?? 0.o)

[Tifa Lockhart]

Andraste was awake, but she had chosen to not emerge from under the bed. She hadn't really slept that well. She lay where she was, curled up on the floor, her blankets pulled close to her, and her pillow hugged against her chest. She was looking at nothing and thinking about nothing in particular, she just didn't feel much like facing the world. She thought she heard movement and a door open, so she assumed that Rayn was probably awake, but that didn't seem to rouse her 'get up and go' spirit either. All she wanted to do was lay where she was. She was safe in the dank darkness beneath the bed. Who would think to look there upon quickly glancing through the door?

[Sparkles]

As Rayn walked down the strip of balcony on the inside of the hall (used to be a ballroom) towards the room he'd placed Andraste in he didn't make a noise. He paused for a brief moment with his hand on the doornob, about to turn it and walk inside, when he thought better of it and pulled his hand back.
Sure she wouldn't apprieciate him walking into her room (albeit her temporary room) without asking, he stood there, outside her door, contemplating what to do. knock, idiot he thought half a second before his half clenched fist rapped gently on the door. Of course, if she was asleep, she most probably wouldn't hear that.. but he wasn't so used to politeness.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Andraste tensed when she heard the door, fearful for a brief moment that it might be someone she didn't want to face... but then it occurred to her that an unfriendly would not knock.
So slowly she crawled out from under the bed, her joints stiff from the cold night curled under the bed. She moved slowly to the doorway, hugging herself tightly in an attempt to stave off the chill she could feel now that she no longer had the blanket.
She stood by the door for a long moment, paused in the motion of opening the door. What if a threat had KNOWN she'd assume a knock was a good thing, and knocked to lure her into a false sense of security?
You're being paranoid... she scolded herself, before finally reaching out her hand to turn the doorknob. She pulled the door open only the tiniest crack, so she could see who was on the other side. When she saw that it was Rayn, she opened it a little wider.
"Good evening..." she murmured softly.

[Sparkles]

He'd assumed he would still be the one to open the door, and was impressed when he heard Andraste walking toward it. He stepped back from it a moment before she edged the door open and issued him a 'good evening'.
"You too. Shall we begin your training or do you need some... female time?" he asked this as if he were asking about something that clearly embarrassed and eluded him at the same time.
Rayn and awkward were not words to be strung together, yet they would be now. Even in life, he had not been forward with women. Had never touched a woman until the day he and his troops came upon that slave caravan - the one that had held all his beginnings.. and his end.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Andraste paused a moment before she nodded.
"just let me get changed..." she disappeared for a moment before returning a few minutes later.

[Sparkles]

Rayn turned, assuming that she would follow him, and walked back down the walkway to the stairs that he promptly descended.
Now in the main foyer, he turned to address her, his mask formal as he got straight to the point, "Do you remember what I told you the other week? About inheriting your father's strength..?"
She would have to accept it if Rayn was going to help her.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Andraste didn't look up when Rayn spoke to her. She kept her eyes directed towards her feet, shifting her weight back and forth.
"Yes..." she murmured.

[Sparkles]

A nod. Rayn would then walk over to an intricately fashioned wall table to the side of the room, the sound of his boots a harsh noise in the silence of the large hall. Once close to the table, he would reach out a hand slowely and brush a single finger delicately over an ornate short sword that balaced upon the top of the table.
Just after glancing back at Andraste, Rayn picked up the sword by the blade, making sure not to put any pressure on the edges - it certainly wasn't blunt (Rayn didn't own any blunt weapons).
Arriving back infront of Andraste, he held the sword so that the hilt was infront of her, in grasping distance of her hand. He stared into her eyes, his own seemingly haunted, as he waited for her to take the sword.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Andraste just stared at the sword for a very long time, a look of fear in her eyes. She felt torn, part of her wanting to cling to the boring security of her old life, while the other half welcomed the excitement and the chance to learn, that part of her almost tasted sour in her mouth, like a rising bloodlust that she feared more than embraced. Slowly her hand would extend, though it trembled, but it stopped just short of the hilt, shaking in place for a moment before she withdrew it to her chest, choking back the urge to weep. She wasn't like this... why was she suddenly so miserly and weak? The whole time her gaze felt locked with his... as though she were unable to look away. Such sadness in those eyes... that she could barely dream to comprehend in its entirety. Part of her wondered whether it hurt for him to look at her... seeing as she was the daughter of some... some beast he'd defeated before. As she stared, unable to will herself to take the sword from him, she felt the same heat she'd felt in the dungeon rising in her blood, like claws reaching out to protect her, but at the same time scraping against her flesh. She reached up to cover her face with her hands then, as if she hoped to hide.
"I-" she choked, unable to speak.