[Lii Anne]

He floated, right there at her shoulder, his eyes staring blankly at her as his wings fluttered. Eerily, she returned the blank stare as red eyes gazed deeply in to the ball's own. "You..." She mumbled quietly, reaching towards the black, emotionless creature. It zipped out of the way of her hand, narrowly avoiding her gripping one of its tiny floating wings. She could have hurt it - badly. Oh well.

Slowly she lowered herself until she was sitting at the base of a tree, eyes blankly watching the sky. Her angst ball hovered near her, unwilling to leave the flow of negative energy that permenantly streamed from her broken body. He was always there, now. She always had to put up with him, and she wouldn't say it, but she hated it. All he did was hover and act useless, flitting about and taking up space that she could be using for better things.

"Aeva," a voice called, catching her attention. The pretty little girl's head shot up, towards where Tithe had been only mere moments ago. She realized that her angst ball had vanished, and as much as she wanted that, the fact that he was gone irked her. Where could he get to?

The being who now stood before her bore choppy ink black hair, vivid green eyes and a highly androgynous, lean body. If the open black trench coat didn't reveal the lack of breasts, Aeva would have been unsure the sex of her visitor. She knew, though. She knew, and his presence brought a smirk-like smile to her mostly emotionless face.

"Eldrich," she returned, acknowledging his presence in the same way he always did her. The half-smile turned in to a full smirk.

[Lii Anne]

The man took his place by her side, lowering his long, lean body swiftly until he was at her side. His left hand brushed at her bangs, and he flashed her a quick smile, revealing his white-as-a-pearl teeth through his lopsided smile. Aeva rolled her eyes, returning the touch in an instant. Her fingers ran smoothly through his soft hair, and she slowly groomed the back of his hair, staring at the side of his head.

"You're back," she whispered, red eyes now moved and staring in to his, filled with amazement and happiness. It was like she'd been introduced to her savior. This man basically was, he was among the only she trusted with anything.

He was so scarce, though. His appearances were sporadic, sometimes day after day, and other times she wasn't given sight of his face for over a month. Aeva wouldn't say it out loud, but she hated that. She hated inconsistency, she wished that he could come up with a regular schedule to see her.

Life didn't revolve around her, though, and she knew that.

"You say that like you thought I'd never return," the man called Eldrich replied, rolling his narrow blue eyes and shaking his head lightly. "Do you really doubt me that much?"

[Lii Anne]

"I don't doubt you," Aeva whispered quietly, her expression once again blank as she stared foreward, her eyes falling out of focus. One of her hands lifted to cup her ear, and she leaned her head in to that hand. Birds were chirping, wind was blowing, and there were buildings nearby. That was all she could pay attention to, despite the fingers still running through her hair.

"You're off today," Eldrich returned, a tone of inquisition in his voice. He meant his statement as a question. She didn't want to give him what he wanted, as much as she was enjoying having him around once again.

It didn't seem like she was enjoying it, though.

He'd been around this before, though - witnissed it all the time. He wasn't going to expect her to respond, or even pay attention to him being there, but rather removed his hand from her hair, put his lips together, and watched her in silence.

[Lii Anne]

Aeva remained unmoving for a long time, as if frozen in stone, while her lone friend kept watchful eyes on her. He was tense, his body stiff, as if waiting for her to jump or do something suddenly. Or... was he waiting for something else? Even without her looking, she could sense the tension in his body. One corner of her mouth turned up in a smirk at that observation.

"Waiting for something?" Her words broke the silence that had formed between them, and she turned her head to see his, his face. It was beautiful, that much she would admit. He was beautiful and, though sporadically, hers to see. Part of that angered her, making her blood boil about how inconsistent he always was.

She didn't work well with inconsistency. She didn't work well with people, actually. They weren't Aeva's thing, not one bit. It was surprising that she accepted Eldrich the way that she did.

"Where'd you get that from?" He returned, one eyebrow arched at her. His hair was falling in to his eyes, and her urges to go push it out of the was were overwhelming. She didn't though.

"You're tense." It was a simple observation, no more.

[Lii Anne]

Eldrich rolled his eyes, and pushed himself to his feet. He straightened his trench coat, tied it up with a matching leather belt, and offered a hand to the girl by him. "Let's go for a walk," he suggested, which caught her attention. Aeva gave him one curt nod and took his hand so that he could help her back to her feet. Her thumbs went in to the beltloops of her khaki capris and her head dropped to stare at the ground. Their hands were latched together, and she looked miniature by Eldrich's side.

"Come around more often," Aeva said quietly as she looked up at the sky, admiring the clouds for a moment before turning to look up at him. He let out a sigh, unlatched their hands, and placed his in his pockets. The reaction confused Aeva, who's head tilted. "Did I say something wrong?" Worry was evident in her voice. He could tell.

I'm around more often than you think, Eldrich thought to himself, unable to tell her those words out of fear he would have to explain their meaning. He wasn't yet about to reveal that truth to her, out of fear it would affect her badly. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt the girl.

"No, not at all," Eldrich returned, hoping to calm his girl's worries. "You merely made something come to mind, Ae," he said, in hopes that would be all she needed. If not, he could come up with something. Lying to her felt like the wrong thing to do, but, in this world, who is there to really tell right from wrong?

[Lii Anne]

Aeva wasn't about to give up with just that, however. What she had said obviously hit a string in him, and she wasn't about to go along without finding what. Though she hated to be a bother to others, she disliked being bothered tenfold more. It was an Aeva thing. The young woman bit down gently on her lower lip before -literally- prodding him, right in the side.

"Come on, what's up?" She asked, curiosity ringing in her voice as she did so. Every second he didn't respond, she prodded his side again, bringing him to flinch away from her and give her a playful glare. In reality, he was trying to think of something to say to her, as he really had no clue. He wasn't yet ready to tell her the truth, unbelieving that she could handle it, but lying to her... It wasn't a nice feeling. He came up with something, though. A truth, but a lie by omission.

"Well, I am around a lot. I mean, we live in the same town. We're always within a reasonable distance from each other," the man replied smoothly,  returning back to the lady's side now that she was done poking at him.

[Lii Anne]

"That's not the same, though," Aeva whispered, her voice barely audible. Her head was tilted town, eying the ground in front of herself as the pair walked down a dirt path, towards a small park that they often visited when together. She shook her head, thinking to herself about his comment. Though it was true, it was false. He wasn't usually around, and he so rarely showed up that she had become surprised by his visits.

"And... how do you locate me?" It was a question of pure curiosity. Never once had they planned to meet, he just showed up around her. Given the town wasn't the largest, it was reasonable for him to run in to her once in a while, but luck only worked so often, and all the times they'd interceded paths... It seemed like more than a coincidence.

"I... I get a feeling that something good might happen. So I do what my body tells me to," Eldrich returned with a half-smile. "Often times, it's not you, as you can tell by how we don't often run in to each other. But, sometimes, I end up running in to you. It's nice when that happens, you know."