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Rosc was still pretty pissed about that stupid auction.
He'd tried going back to his room, but that hadn't ended well, so he'd decided the best option was to take Ripley out for a bit of air and exercise her. He could have simply exercised himself, but he really didn't want to. Save that kind of stuff for the gym class he'd have to take eventually.

He'd brought a small ball down with his pet, though the making was a little strange. It was light and on one side, there was a tail of cloth. It all came down to an object being large enough for Rosc to throw well and still possible for Ripley to bring it back. Prancer or Cathal would probably be more suited to a game of fetch, but neither of them had seemed to like the idea. His foxsquirrel, however, loved anything that had her running around.

His coat in a small heap near his feet, Rosc picked up the ball and threw it, hard. He usually kept it pretty close, but he was angry and needed to let off steam. Ripley took off like a shot after it, her tail waving like a banner behind her.

Without his coat on, he attached his school pin to his pants near the left pocket and one could see the dark gold band he wore around his left wrist. It was difficult to tell how it came on or off, only by messing with it could it be determined that it was really very pliable and the only thing keeping it formed to his arm were the small clasps on the underside.
There were two reasons he wore the band. One, it had belonged to his father, the knot designs at the edges giving that fact away to any who had known his mother. And two, it hid the scars where his aunt had grabbed his wrist to pull him back to her.

Rosc sucked air through his teeth in a low hiss at the sudden feeling of someone at his back. He hated having something, anything at his back, it was probably the thing he hated the most in all the world. It meant he couldn't see someone coming at him, and at the very least he wanted to see an attack before it hit him.

As Ripley ran back up with her ball, the incubus spun around, ready to see who it was that was nearing him.
Only to find it was Arachne. The very last student he wanted to see right now.

"What do you want?" he all but growled, deciding that he couldn't ignore her like he wanted to. He couldn't turn his back on her, he knew that especially now. And he didn't want to prolong this meeting any longer than it had to be, so getting straight to the point was the best course, in his mind.

His brow furrowed slightly into a frown at her words.
"I wasn't hoping to run into anyone, or at the least if someone saw me to keep on walking," he spat back. Ripley finally caught back up, dropping her ball and climbing Rosc's pants until she reached his hand. He knew what his pet wanted, simply by habit, he looked down slightly to pick her up and then stick her on his shoulder.

"Did she, now? I don't really see how it's any business of yours," he replied, crossing his arms. Oh, the things he could have said to that. She didn't seem to complain much when I kissed her back. Or maybe... Oh? I bet you mean the one before the auction, and not the one five minutes ago.

But it was better to not prolong this confrontation any longer than it had to be.

Really?
REALLY?
How was that even possible? He was his perfectly blunt and off-putting self when she had come upon him the first time. He'd completely ignored her at the dance after he had brought her in.

"I never gave you a reason to like me... I just don't get you. You say you like me and yet you go behind my back to sabotage me in order to further your own needs. Yeah, I saw you giving that leering little hunchback your seeds," he paused to let his furious expression fade into a more neutral or stern frown. She wasn't going to get it, not until she understood. He worried what that boil would do to Sin, to any ghoul he had eyes for. Rosc didn't know what it was, nor the reasoning behind it, he just had a bad taste in his mouth whenever he focused on the undead.

"Let me just clue you in, Arachne. I don't like intrigue. I loathe it at a level you can't even begin to comprehend. If you're going to attack me or anything I've undertaken, at the least have the decency to come at my face." His tone had calmed a bit, seeing how upset she was getting. Maybe if he reigned his temper in, she would go away. Oh, that was a lot of reigning and an uncrossing of his arms and shove of his hands roughly into his pockets.
He actually... felt a little bad for Arachne, though. He was expecting too much of others. It was in a demon's nature to fight in secret, to keep with the cloak-and-dagger. He was, in essence, no exception. He would rather talk his way out of a confrontation than have it come to blows. But he didn't move against other behind their backs, didn't boost the enemy of his enemy to further his own goals (The enemy of his enemy was still a plausible threat).
He'd gotten enough of that from his parents' families after he'd recovered.

It had tapered off as he had gotten older and less gullible, but he remembered the two sides of his real families trying to trick him out of his inheritance. Everything from outright challenging the wills to playing nice, trying to lure him into someone's circle so that they could tap-dance him out of what was rightfully his. That had probably been the hardest Nic had ever fought for him and despite the dislike between the two demons, Rosc respected him for it.
Thankfully now he was just disowned from both sides. At least they wouldn't bother him anymore... He hoped.

There was a faintly audible grinding sound in Rosc's head as Arachne turned and started walking away. A war was going on in there even as his back teeth ground against each other.
She was jealous. That was no excuse. She'd done something that hampered him.
He had kissed Sin, and danced with her of his own volition. But that was private, his reasonings were his own and he didn't feel he had to explain or justify them to anyone.
It wasn't really that much of an intrigue... Like hell it wasn't. She, in a way, conspired with someone in opposition to him in order to make him lose at something. That, in his mind, qualified enough.
He had hurt her. She'd told him she liked him, was jealous of his attention to Sin. And he'd hurt her. ... Well, dammit.

There were things he could say, things that could maybe explain... But he wasn't going to. For all he knew it would just make things worse and she'd come back and yell at him or she might even attack him for real. He could feel Ripley's concerned nuzzling at the side of his neck and chin. He let out a slow breath as he watched the demoness leave.

But at least he learned something from Arachne.
He always thought that whenever a ghoul was interested in him, it was because of his position. He was a possible way into the club, since unless you were a special case it was usually not inheritable. Technically Rosc would have to prove himself capable of keeping his membership once he finished school (Which was one of the stipulations). But if a member besides a family relation went before the others and suggestion recruitment, you had a foot in. He never thought it had anything to do with how he looked or acted.

He may have been wrong about that this whole time... ...
Probably not.