(Long, like year-old overdue log)
Sin:
Sin had spent most of the night sleeplessly, she would lay in bed and feel the guilt gnawing away at her. The Unmentionables she had tossed in the closet unsure of any more appropriate way to punish them. She hugged a pillow close and repeated her words to Rosc over and over, and then realized how unfair they were. Rosc might have shattered a well built illusion, but if she didn't reach out and at least try and take hold of what was real...then she was the one cheating herself out of a dream. Rosc said he cared about her, and if the words had been on a screen she wouldn't have hesitated to respond. So why had she been so reluctant to tell him how much she really cared about him?

Pain, that was the reason, she had felt the sting of betrayal, she knew that admitting you cared meant you could be hurt. She didn't want to suffer for love, but if she really did care about Rosc she didn't have much choice except to trust he wouldn't hurt her again. It was hardly any wonder she loved flirtations and quick dates, smirking passionate kisses where she felt nothing and left the other party dizzy with desire. She had never been hurt by playing around with a boil, but if she really admitted how she felt...she dozed off into a fitful sleep.

By morning Sin had made up her mind, she couldn't hate Rosc, or ignore him, or continue to pretend that it was over before it began. She sighed and flipped through her closet looking for the perfect outfit. The right outfit lent you strength, her mother had always told her. You pick your clothes like your choosing the best armor for a battle.

Sin finished running the brush through her hair and then checked her make-up again for the hundredth time. She was stalling, she was used to getting ready fast, don't dawdle her parents always said. Mother could be thrown into a closet and waltz out in a few minutes looking as if she'd taken hours to prepare. Sin had learned speed and style from her, but today she was anxious. She looked at herself in the mirror again, her dress was the elegant style she usually wore. Too dressy would make the matter seem too important, too casual would make her feel powerless. She had debated tying her hair up, but she rarely did so it stayed down. She fiddled with her gloves before deciding she didn't need them.

With a sigh she fingered the purple rose and then turned and slipped out of her room. Walk with purpose...it felt more like she was walking ominously towards the end...or the start. She stood outside the door for a long moment before trying to smile, then she sighed and just let it go, no point pretending now. She lifted her hand and knocked softly, cowardly she didn't want him to open the door just yet.

Rosciel:
Rosc had lost consciousness somewhere in the early morning in his chair rather than his bed. It was hard to tell who had stayed up with whom, if he had stayed up with Ripley or she with him, but either way, she was curled up in his lap, sound asleep. Ban and MC loved Rosc and all, but they weren't going to turn down the bed for the floor or the back of an armchair. But they had watched him as he paced, trying to figure out what to do now, how to feel. He hadn't even bothered to take off the shirt he had thrown on or his blindfold. He'd just sat in his plush armchair, intending to think some more and was out like a light from exhaustion.

But no matter how deep his sleep, Rosc was easily awakened. As if he had been shocked, he jerked awake at the sound of a knock. Despite the shake, Ripley was much more of a sound sleeper and she simply opened one eye before closing it again. Rosc rubbed a hand over his face, knowing he was going slow about answering the door, but whoever it was could damn well wait. He lifted Ripley up so he could stand and he set her back down on the chair.

His hair was a mess from running his hands through it all evening, when he opened the door. If he had eyes, they would have blinked in confusion.
"Sin? What time is it?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder for an indicator. A sleepy thought went through his mind, You're not going to find one, stupid. He turned his attention to Sin again.

Sin:
"Oh...I'm sorry I didn't realize you'd be asleep..." She had been surprised that the door had opened with her feather light knock. Rosc was sleepy though, so maybe she could just excuse herself and turn tail and...be a complete coward. "I can...come back later if you want? It's about 8..." She wasn't sure if she would come back, of course...of course she would. It was just hard to imagine feeling so nerve wracked again. She really wasn't even sure what she was going to say, she'd had somekind of plan in her head but it was escaping her now.

Rosciel:
"No, I'm awake now. What is it?" It couldn't be Ripley again, she'd been with him all night. And Bob was locked in the closet. He barely noticed the dress she was wearing, he was focused on her face instead. He saw the nerves there and his face turned a little confused. She couldn't have come over to apologize, had she? No, there was nothing she really needed to apologize for. Not that he could think of. Well, running out on his confession last night was a little rough, but he had deserved it, hadn't he?

Sin:
"Oh...well..Is Ripley okay?" Oh really, she had to stop skirting around the subject. She had come with a purpose and stalling really wasn't going to help. She looked past him at the room and then back at him. "Mind if I come in for a minute?" She finally managed to ask feeling like she was dooming herself. Nothing good had ever happened in Rosc's room, fight and fight and fight, what if this conversation ended the same?

Rosciel:
Rosc's eyebrows rose slightly when she asked about Ripley.
"Yeah, she's sleeping," he replied and rather than say anything else, he moved out of the way, opening the door a bit more so that she could come in. He closed it behind her once she entered and moved to the armchair. He gently picked Ripley up and moved her to the bed, setting her in a small cuddle pile created by MC and Ban and gesturing from Sin to the chair he had moved his foxsquirrel from. He could use the desk chair. It wasn't as comfortable, but Sin was a guest and, well, despite how much it hurt him, he still felt like putting her concerns above his own.

Sin:
Sin slipped inside his room feeling like an intruder, she watched as he moved Ripley her eyes following the foxsquirrel with concern. Then he motioned to the chair and she walked over and slowly sat down. It wasn't her usual posture though, she didn't drape herself over the armchair like she owned it. She perched on the edge looking ready to make a run for it at the first sign of danger. Her fingers twisted nervously in her lap for a moment before her mothers harsh words echoed in her mind and she smoothed them trying to calm herself.

"I...I wanted to talk to you, about last night. You said some important things and I..." She froze for a moment at a loss for words that should have come so easily. "I know you didn't really mean to hurt me, and I guess I shouldn't have been so hurt...I was just...I just couldn't understand why you...did what you did."

She took a deep breath and then looked down trying to remember how to say what she wanted to without sounding like an idiot. "The more I thought about it...the more I started to understand. I remember all the times you told me how hard it was to trust anyone. I shouldn't have gotten so angry with you...at first I thought you had just been...playing."

Rosciel:
Rosc walked over to the other chair, listening as she talked. He brought it over, stopping to set it down about the time she started to apologize. His hands gripped the smooth wood of the back.
"If I had been, you would have known. I wouldn't have eee!-mailed you, wouldn't have shared anything," he replied, thinking of his interactions with the daughters of some of the club members he had met. They had talked, he had half-listened, had taken them on little walks, things like that. Until they got too clingy, or he was simply sick of the interaction. Then he'd tell them to leave him alone and cloister himself in his room for a few days until their parents too them home.

Rather than move to sit down, like he had intended, he considered staying where he was. His legs felt stiff and his back had grown a little rigid from her words, his muscles tight as he wondered just where this was going. But then he realized it was intimidating, holding his height above hers as she spoke of things she was clearly having trouble with. So, movements still rather stiff, he released the chair to move around it and sit down, slouching a bit in an attempt to relax and crossing his arms.

Sin:
"I know, I mean now I realized you weren't you...you couldn't have been. We were so honest...and that's why I felt so betrayed when I realized you had been here all this time." She watched him as he sat and slowly she lifted her head trying to summon up the courage to just say what she had to.

"I...I don't want this to end...before we've even had a chance to try..." She bit her lip for a moment afraid, so afraid to tell him she cared. What if he was done? What if he had realized that she wasn't as good or nice or clever as he had imagined? "I was so...I'm so afraid of being hurt that I didn't want to admit how I felt. Except...it's still there, the feelings, even when I try to ignore them or tell myself they can't be real. I really do...care about you...and...us...and what we...had, could have."

Rosciel:
What was that evil little thing creeping into his mind? Rosc could feel it, claw by painful claw, climbing up his spine and burrowing in his chest, leaving a numbness to his pain as it went. Hope. That vile creature that had put him in this position, hope that he had finally found the contradiction to his life, that maybe there was someone out there he could trust, who cared too much to ever want to hurt him.
But she had. She'd turned away, even when he was baring himself to her.

The shield came up again. He wanted to protect himself, to tell her it was too late, that he wasn't sure he could trust her again. What would she do if her friends didn't like him? Arachne sure didn't and Sin had been so concerned for her feelings after they had kissed.
But hope was stronger than his mask. His feelings for her powerful enough to shatter his shield. He bowed his head and the tension began to leave him.

"What do we do now, then?"

Sin:
She watched him in terrified silence, for a moment she considered just getting up and leaving. She didn't want him to tell her it was too late, that she had ruined what was so fragile. When his head lowered she considered just apologizing, lying, telling him she didn't mean it. Then his words slipped out and she almost breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now...I guess we need to try and...repair what we've done...find that trust again." She scooted a little closer to him her fingers hesitantly moving to try and touch his.

Rosciel:
His fingers shied away from hers, so that they could rise and touch her cheek.
"I'm really glad you didn't say start from the beginning," Rosc replied, his face tilting up to look at Sin. He would have hated started from the beginning, he didn't really want to start over. He wouldn't push her, though. He would, however, start being more openly aggressive against boils who looked a little too long at Sin. He hadn't really liked that to begin with, but now that he was here and seeing it first hand, it made him even more annoyed.

Sin:
She slowly smiled as he touched her cheek, it felt good, to really smile. "I think we know each other a little too well to ever really start from the beginning." She lightly lifted her hand to run a finger across his cheekbone. "Does it still hurt?" She asked softly frowning and nervously biting her lower lip.

Rosciel:
Rosc smiled and shook his head, leaning slightly into Sin's fingers.
"It didn't hurt much after the first night. At least, I couldn't feel it as much as the pain in my chest," he replied, turning his head so that he could kiss her fingers. He stood then, taking her hands and tugging upwards slightly, hinting that he wanted her to stand with him. There were so many things in his mind that he wanted to do, but he figured he should probably get ready for the day. He probably looked like he had just gotten out of bed... Well, he kind of had.

Sin:
She relaxed a bit glad that she hadn't hurt him as badly as she had thought. She stood and for a moment she remembered the start of that night. She lightly moved her fingers across his shoulder and then let go. "I better go...I have Fearleading Practice..." She smiled and leaned up quickly to kiss his cheek.

Rosciel:
Rosc turned his head slightly to give her cheek a kiss as well. Part of him had wanted to turn a bit more so that he could catch her lips, but that could be too fast. Now that he had her again, he didn't want to frighten her away.
"So that's why you're up so early," he replied, remembering things from her eee!-mails.

"We should talk more, afterwards. I want to hear how it's going." He wanted to continue the talking, wanted her to confide in him and vice versa. And to hear her say them instead of having that daft pre-c reading her words to him was a much better idea.

Sin:
"Yes I didn't realize you were a late riser, but I try and get up before the sun, and get to sleep long after it's gone." She grinned and for a moment she was reluctant to let go of his hand. She finally did and headed to the door with a nod. "Maybe we can meet up for lunch?" She looked at him uncertainly, still nervous about how he would respond to her usual social whirl. "You can bring Ripley...we'll have a picnic, it'll be good for her to get out?"

Rosciel:
"Lunch sounds like a good idea. She'll like a bit of time outside," Rosc replied. He was just as reluctant of her hand leaving his as she was, but he still let her hand slip away. It pleased him to see her smile, for real, and he knew this was a real one. He couldn't read eyes, so he had spent most of his life reading expressions. His return smile was small, but sincere as he passed her to the door to open it for her.

"Stop by after practice and we can find somewhere for that picnic."