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 Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:46 pm
"Hmmm..." his gaze was on the gryphon, the elegant arch a brow indicating that he was well aware he was not only lying, but was well aware Ren, himself knew that much. However, given the fact their conversation had headed in an entirely different direction (all his fault, granted, since he'd been the one to fess up), Gabrian merely offered his friend a look. That look alone seemed to voice out that he knew that Ren knew; in fact, that look seemed to voice out that the demon knew Ren better than most others thought he did. Granted, he was well aware it went both ways, since, well... no one else in school knew him as intimately as the gryphon did. Not even LW; there were things the she-wolf probably didn't understand, and yet the nix knew Ren did. He'd never really been this close to anyone, and while rather overwhelming at first, he had to admit felt good. It was nice to know there was someone he could lean on, in good times and bad times. Several someones, in fact, given the fact though Gabrian knew they didn't know him as well as Ren did, he still loved both LW and Alessa dearly.
He watched in silence as it all finally dawned on the other boil, "I marked her. Twice. Sort of," this was spoken matter-of-factly. Almost as if he were talking to a young child rather than his friend, though it was clear it was said as such more for Ren's benefit than Garian's. After all, the demon felt the other boil might start hyperventilating soon; keeping his voice calm and his words simple might just help the situation, "Technically speaking, when I marked her... she wasn't your ghoulfriend, and as such, that doesn't count," a pause as he looked up to the ceiling of the room, "And yes. That would be correct; I'm quite screwed," he let out a sight as he lowered his gaze back to the other boil, "Rather than state the obvious, it'd be much more helpful if you could help me figure out how to undo this mess with minimal damage."
The mildly horrified expression the nix offered his friend when he suggested he come clean made it quite clear that was the last thing he wanted to do, "I said minimal damage, Ren! Not maximum damage!" he took a sip of his chocolate, allowing the warmth of the liquid to travel down his throat, focusing on the feel of it for a moment in an attempt to fight back the mild panic attack, "If I tell her exactly what I did, she'll actually have good reason to hate me. And despite myself, I find I rather fancy the ghoul. As such, I would prefer if I could somehow fix up the whole situation in a way that won't end with her gating my guts," setting the mug on his lap, cupping it with both hands, the demon fidgeted just a bit, taking in his friend's body language, "I er... well, as far as I know, when I ask a favor of her, she'll feel compelled to do it. Thing is, I don't want her to know I outsmarted her when we shook our hands. It was underhanded of me and I rather if she didn't have a reason to be wary of me. I'm usually rather harmless; she just pushed my buttons."
In all honesty, the fact he hadn't used it against her yet probably said a lot in his favor, "I was thinking... that if I ask her formally, to give me cooking lessons as a favor, it might nullify the contract, and she'll be non the wiser, seeing as how... that's what she thinks her end of the bargain is," his eyes strayed towards Ren and the softened for a moment, "You know," this was drawled out as he pushed himself off the bed, placing the mug on the nightstand, "You're not missing anything, by remaining unmarked, Ren. Trust me on this one. I'd mark you personally, if... well, marks weren't something serious that shouldn't be played with," which was something he'd learned quite recently, "In fact, I think I have something a bit better than a mark and far less dangerous," that said, he moved towards his treasure mimic. He knocked on it a couple of times and waited for the creature to open up before reaching to grab something from within, "I believe this is similar to what a mark could do, and yet.... a thousand times more meaningful," he sat down on the edge of the bed and reached over to place one of his emblems in front of the gryphon's nose.
He had no answer for his other words, and instead, moved the hand he'd used to drop the emblem, to the other boil's ears, scratching slightly, "It'll be alright," technically, he had no way of knowing that, but... it sounded like the right thing to say, "You don't need them. Just like you don't need a demon mark to solidify the fact I'd do a favor for you anytime you asked, Ren. Mark or no mark."
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:44 pm
Growing up, Ren had always wondered what it would have been like to have an older brother. Granted, Gabrian was not technically like an older brother (after all, it would have been creepy and wrong on so many levels to make out with your older brother, as they had done not just once, but twice already), but he was, in most senses of the word, the closest thing Ren had to family. Not that he generally related Gabrian as family, like he'd told him the other day. Family was something that was tainted, dirty, something that just let you down. No, Gabrian was more than that, better than that. The demon knew him better than anyone else, even LW and Alessa. He loved the ghouls, loved them both so crazily that sometimes he wondered if he could ever live without them again. But Gabrian had a way of knowing him deeper, of being able to read him, to see inside of him and understand him. It was scary as all hell, but the demon made Ren feel...safe.
"Don't give me that look," Ren said, somewhat grumpily. "I wouldn't have tried to run away." Maybe fly away instead.
He stayed on his side on the bed, fingers plucking at a stray thread in Gabrian's blanket. "It still counts," he said stubbornly, then sighed, exhaling slowly when he heard the slight panic in the nix's voice. He couldn't technically be mad at him for marking his ghoulfriend, not when he knew that Gabrian did not really get panicky. So, unfortunately, despite Ren's reservations about the whole thing, this was a serious thing.
"A favor, hmmm?" he mused to himself, one ear swiveling back against his hair as he thought. "How formally, do you mean? If you just say 'please give me cooking lessons?' Haven't you already asked her? Would she get suspicious otherwise?" A pause. "Actually, knowing Alessa, that just might work. But you'd have to make it sound sincere." Ren gave a shrug. "I don't have any knowledge as to how exactly demon contracts work, but it seems like asking her straight out, with no hankering or pandering, would be a logical way of getting rid of the contract."
His fingers were gripping the blankets a little too tightly. Realizing his irritability and idiocy were probably quite visible, he loosened his hand, smoothing out the crinkles. Face turning a bright scarlet, Ren hunched his shoulders in his curled position as embarrassment coursed through him. "W-who said anything about feeling left out?!" he said hotly, and felt the bed shift as Gabrian stood. Ren kept his eyes on his hand, not wanting to look up at the demon.
That is, until something was set onto the blankets right in front of him. For a few moments Ren just stared, lifting his head slightly to get a better view.
"T...that's..." he said, then trailed off, feeling stupid. It was not that he had not thought Gabrian wouldn't give him his emblem, but after the IOU paper he had received from the nix, Ren had expected him to just forget and move on. This was not considered a slight on Gabrian's part; Ren simply knew that people generally did not keep what they had promised. However, his logic, as it had been for several months now, was extremely skewed, apparently, because that, lying in front of him, was most definitely Gabrian's student emblem.
Ren reached out hesitantly, stopping to pull his hand back just a fraction, as if unsure of whether or not to take it. However, after a few seconds, his fingers closed around the small object, bringing it to look at, holding it almost gingerly in his hand, like it was something delicate. Warm fingers touched his head, moving to his ears, and, as expected, a light purr thrummed through Ren as he moved wide eyes up at Gabrian. His face, which most likely resembled a stop sign, was crimson, and he swallowed hard, trying to act normal.
It wasn't really working. Ren tilted his head forward, pressing his forehead against Gabrian's chest, moving to half lay across the other's lap, clutching the emblem in his fingers. Stupid, yes, I am so stupid. Idiotic.
"Thanks," he finally manged to mumble out, his voice muffled by the demon's shirt. "...really. Thank you."
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:23 pm
The simple hand gesture Gabrian gave his friend seemed to indicate he was not buying what he was saying. However, it also showed that he didn't think it was worth pursuing that line of thought at the moment; the conversation had taken a rather... interesting twist (even if it was, technically, currently focused solely on him), and the demon was more interested in getting answers to that particular problem. Anything else could wait for a while, "Doesn't work like that," he frowned slightly, "It has to be formal, as in... stated clearly, or in a clear, yet round about way that I would like my favor to be repaid in the form of cooking lessons," he paused here and took a sip of his hot chocolate, taking the time to blow a puff of breath over the liquid, "Technically... I never asked for the lessons; that was all Alessa. She said everything. I didn't have to open my mouth. She pretty much set herself up without my help," lowering the mug, he placed it on his knee and grimaced slightly, "My problem is that the school requires paperwork to be done where demon marks are concerned. The paper states what I did and what she did back for me, and we both need to sign it, so... I'm pondering just visiting her with the papers in hand and tell her we need to settle this formally."
He was pretty sure that would work, actually. If they placed it down on paper, it'd allow him to formally ask for the cooking lessons in return for those singing lessons and that's one mark that would hopefully vanish. The other one... well, that one depended solely on Alessa and not him, but at least by filling out the papers, he'd figure out what she wanted him to do for her, "I'll do that then," this was murmured softly, his gaze following the patterns the chocolate made within the mug before he turned to watch Ren. Being a demon, Gabrian was not entirely sure if he'd been right to assume his friend was feeling jealous, but his reaction to the emblem was well worth the assumption at least, "My emblem," he told the other boil, "I hadn't forgotten. I was just waiting for the right time. It never seemed to feel like the perfect time... until right about now," he allowed himself to shrug slightly, a hand reaching up to scratch under his left horns in mild embarrassment, "I'm afraid I'm a bit sentimental. I can't help it."
The purr that followed the light scratching he gave the gryphon caused the nix to smile. His mouth opened, no doubt to speak up again, but... the words never seemed to make it past his throat. Ren's head tilted and then pressed against his chest, causing the demon to pause what he'd been doing in an attempt to accommodate the other boil a bit better, "You have issued," this was not said as an accusation, in fact, there was clear mirth coloring Gabrian's voice as he set down the mug and reached to flop one hand on the gryphon's head, "I was pretty sure that claiming you as mine in the music class would have been enough. Apparently not. Rest assured I meant every word; you're all mine. You just don't know it yet," he scratched lightly behind Ren's ears as he spoke, his voice a low murmur, which he was pretty sure the other boil could hear due to being pressed against his chest, "And you don't need a demon mark as proof," after all, that was part of the reason he was trying to hard to rid Alessa of hers, "You're welcome. You're always welcome."
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 8:42 am
Of course he couldn't lie to Gabrian. There was really no point in even trying - the nix had a rather annoying way of being able to tell exactly what Ren was thinking, and it made Ren feel very exposed and vulnerable. Which, Ren discovered, was really very irritating, especially since he could not read Gabrian nearly as well.
Though apparently the nix's issues with Alessa were stronger than he thought. "I say just go out and tell her straight out," Ren mumbled. "You're not gaining anything by beating around the bush, and knowing Alessa, the longer you put it off, the more irritated she'll be when she finds out that you've marked her, especially if it involves paperwork. You can't really find a way around that."
And there it was again - Gabrian's notorious way of making Ren not only feel better, but knowing instinctively what would make him feel better. Ren held the emblem in his hand, feeling the weight of it in his palm. Giving an emblem away was something serious, not to be taken lightly. Ren had always planned on giving the others his, showing them his dedication to them, his devotion and his complete and absolute trust in them, but to be honest he had not expected anything in return. Not because he thought less of them, but because of what he had thought before - he had long since believed things to always be one sided.
Gabrian kept breaking this mold, and it was slightly terrifying to Ren. He was not used to being so close, so open to people, but with Gabrian there was a bond that even he could not describe, could not put into words.
He gave a small snort. "Look who's talking," Ren said, his voice muffled by fact that his face was pressed against Gabrian's chest. "You marked my ghoulfriend without intending to. I think that would count as having issues."
Another purr thrummed through him, this one stronger than the last, and Ren felt his face flush hotter, his fingers tightening on Gabrian's shirt. He could feel a stupid, silly grin on his face, one that he couldn't seem to get rid of.
"Does that mean I can claim you as mine, too?" he asked, hearing the demon's voice rumble through him, feeling it reverberate against his head through Gabrian's chest. He was half serious, half joking. "Because I really think this whole claiming thing needs to go both ways."
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