Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rory couldn't stop watching Axton's face, the expression journey he embarked on and she felt her gut twist uncomfortably. He was upset, reasonably so, and she hadn't even thought about what she could have been costing.

He was important to her and she was tired of her important people leaving her. Part of her felt guilty for her actions but largely, she felt justified. He understood, or would. Axton had to.

Chase looked nonplussed about it all.

As far as he was concerned, Axton's switch would have come sooner or later, especially once he began his work for Chase. Argent Industries could stand on it's own, but he knew they would utilize it for potential recruits and furthering the reach of the negaverse.

He remembered the control they once had upon the world and even if time had past, or events had happened with different endings, it was still a goal of his, to achieve such a thing.

It was the name that the man said, stammering over things that he wasn't sure of and dark brows lifted, lips pressing together in a thin line. "You're in luck," Chase told him, mouth curling into a smirk. "Ms. Anania is a special acquaintance of mine. In fact..."

Chase shifted, pulling his cell phone from his pocket before pulling up the woman's contact information and calling her.

With her schedule precariously balanced between patrols and her new obligations while working for Chase, along with everything else she did, early mornings were usually something of a gamble when it came to Desdemona. Days like today, coming off a night of patrolling and with no plans in mind, she was having a relaxed morning - curled on her couch with a cup of rapidly cooling tea on the table as she half-dozed, the morning news droning lowly about this and that. Mostly about people like her and the aftermath of their battles.

When her phone rang, immediately, she reached out groggily to see who it was.
Not many people called, and when they did, it was probably important.

And it was Chase, so of course it was.

“Good morning, “ she answered, sounding more chipper than she felt. “What can I do for you?”

Axton kept his large hand wrapped tightly around Rory's much smaller one, practically clinging to the poor girl as he watched Chase's back with unwavering focus. He could hear Desdemona, just faintly, through Chase's phone. Not what she was saying, but the overall sound of her voice as she answered the phone.

"I'm requesting your immediate presence."

The squeezing pressure around his chest seemed to ease a little at the taller man's words. She was coming here, would be here soon. He was going to get to see her.

But what exactly did that mean for him now? He was supposed to be someone new now. It left him frowning thoughtfully, pale eyes dropping from Chase's back down to the blanket covering his lap. He wondered if the other man already had a name picked out for him or if he'd get to chose his own.

Where was he going to live now? What was he going to do for money?

What was he going to do in general?

The questions just kept repeating in his mind, circling endlessly as he waited for Des to get there, his thumb working in nervous little circles along the back of Rory's hand.

Rory's heart hammered in her chest and it took everything the girl had to keep from displaying how anxious the whole affair was leaving her. She knew that all of this had been orchestrated by her even if Mister Black had agreed to help and had, technically, done the dirty work but...shaking the fear that it was all a mistake was growing more and more difficult as she felt Axton's own anxiousness and worries bleeding out.

"It's going to be okay," Rory made herself say, scooting onto the bed properly to lean into her companion. "You've got me. It'll be okay."

Rory wondered if she said it enough, that it would become fact. The truth, because she was terrified of what it might mean if she wasn't enough.

Chase however, seemed to pay them little attention once the phone call ended. There was a moment of time when his gaze had shifted to them, expression unreadable before he rose from his seat and left the room with little warning.

When he returned, Miss Anania was in his company and he ushered her into the bedroom.

Rory looked up, green eyes nearly wide with panic before she schooled her expression into something less expressive. Luckily, Chase took the lead and she didn't need to say anything.

"You likely won't recognize him now, but it appears that this man is quite fond of you. Fond enough that you and Miss Willows are the only thing that really stayed after he came over."

You know, on the chance that Chase called and immediately ushered her into a bedroom, this wasn't the scene she would have expected. Still, he did say there was someone here she should meet - but Desdemona wasn't sure at first which one he meant between the two of them, a young woman and a bigger man all huddled up on the bed. Her head tilted quizzically to a side, her eyes flashing to Chase as he spoke.

The man, then. No, she didn't recognize him, although it took one glance at him to verify what Chase was saying. Quite fond might have seemed like an understatement, a desperation there that honestly kind of sent a pleasant little chill down her spine.

Of course, no, she didn't immediately recognize him. Even so, a kind of tentative smile crept onto her face. "Hmm... well. There's only ever been one person to call me 'Dessy'." She didn't say anything one way or the other, her gaze flashing again back and forth between Chase and the 'stranger'.

Magic kept her from recognizing him, but that puzzled look she gave him still it harder than it should have. A visceral constriction of his chest that made it a little difficult to breath properly until he saw that little twitch of a smile on her face. Only one person. He hadn't known that.

Rory shifting jerked his attention back to her though, and he gave her a confused look as she stood, a small, worried frown on his face. "Rory." She looked distressed, completely vulnerable, and he sat up a little straighter(despite the ache) so he could reach for her arm again. Why she was worried escaped him, but he gave her gave her arm a comforting squeeze before letting his hand fall away again.

The sound of his name drew pale eyes up to Chase again, and then back to Desdemona. "I'm sorry I missed our date. I got a little...hung up." He flashed her a small, quick smile with the attempted humor.

He watched as Chase and Rory headed out the door and closed it behind them, then Desdemona had his full and undivided attention. She knew he was now, knew what had happened, but hadn't crossed the room to be closer to him. There was that rueful, kissable smile, but it was hard to read whatever emotion might lay behind it.

When she did speak it wasn't quite what he'd been expecting, and pale brows arched as she accurately pegged the situation despite knowing almost nothing before she'd arrived. He'd heard Chase's side of the phone call, the man hadn't given much away.

"Yeah," he confirmed, though not like he was terribly sure about that. "I think so. I don't...I don't really remember." He'd have said he wished she'd been there as well, but he had no memory of what exactly had happened.

Pale eyes widened at the appearance of the wand in his hand and he looked up from it to her face. That she had a powered side wasn't a surprise to him. Chase had said she was an associate, and if she were permitted to know who he was now than meant they were on the same side. What was surprising to him was that he knew her. Not through his memories of a knight, but from before then, "Amphitrite."

His mind skipped back to the first day he'd met Desdemona. It was a little coffee shop near the college, and he'd been studying for something or other when she'd saddled up to the table to ask if the seat opposite him had been taken. She'd inserted herself into his life. That realization brought a thoughtful look to his face, brows slightly furrowed.

"They beat me to it.'"

"You were going to bring me into the Negaverse," he said after a moment. "That was the plan from the beginning, right?" But here they were three years later.

He lifted his hand to take her's as she offered it to him, and with that soft grip he drew her closer, tried to, because of course he wouldn't force her if she resisted. "It's okay." And again his tone was a little unsure, not like he was actually upset, but like he was thinking too hard. Distracted.

"It's...There's a lot to take in." Not just corruption and everything that came with it, but losing almost everything. Almost losing Her and Rory. He felt drained, and his body still ached down to the bones. It was hard to concentrate, hard to absorb everything, and thinking about going forward from that point made him tired beyond reason.

But her hand was warm and soft in his. Whether she'd come closer or not he lifted her hand up to brush her knuckles with lips gone dry from having slept for hours upon hours on end. "There was a moment, before you were called, where I thought I lost you." His voice was soft as he said, gaze down, thumb rubbing along the palm of her hand. "But by some crazy stroke of luck you're a part of this."

When she'd been over seas it'd been hard, but they'd talked often, she hadn't been gone. He didn't want to lose her. She was more than a hook up, she always had been, but he hadn't realized how much more, not really, until now.