Welcome to Gaia! ::

Violet tensed a moment from where she had been sitting on her living room floor doing simple stretches.

The drapes were drawn this time, but she was certain that had been a distinctive tap at her window.

So, he really had come. It was a similar tap to the one he'd used last time. She still didn't know why as he had no reason to in her mind, but she went to the drapes anyway and pushed them aside enough to peek out through the blinds to be doubly certain.

She could discern his shadowy form and, sure now she wasn't going to be jumped, went to the door and unlocked it. Quietly she opened the door and stood aside to let him enter.

As he passed she could immediately tell--he was troubled. And she didn't have much a clue as to why unless it had something to do with--

The first words out of her mouth when he turned to face her, after she'd shut the door and relocked it, had to do with the persistent nagging worry that had bothered her for days, worry over a total stranger.

"Is she all right?"

Violet forced calm to her senses, closing her eyes and clenching her fists for a moment. "I understand if you cannot tell me all of what's going on," she said quietly. "If she's all right I'll take your word for it. I've been worried about her. The last thing I wanted to hear was another girl hurt and another family destroyed by...."

She shut her mouth abruptly.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get yer panties all twisted up over it, al'right? She'll be okay with everyone hoverin' over her like they been doin'. The rest is complicated an' I don't understand it all yet myself."

He could see the color rising to her cheeks at his words and her pressing her lips firmly together in an effort to not ask more questions. Apparently she wasn't an unfeeling little b***h either if she could worry about a total stranger.

She only nodded. "I didn't think I'd see you here again, to be truthful. You know now I am not who you thought I was after all. And--" she paused as she turned towards the kitchen, her voice much quieter now. "You look....I dunno, tired, drawn. I don't have a lot around but I can get you something if you care to have it."

Privately Violet wondered if he realized how transparent he was being--or was it her? He could project his attitude to others and easily get away with them seeing only that but, well, she was more than sure now it came from years of reading her uncle and father for who they really were and both had displayed characteristics of one kind or other that she saw in Raph now. Either way it seemed to be translating.

And what was translating now was tiredness and frustration over--something.

"Mrow." She felt a rub at her ankle and reached down to pick up Akira. "So you woke up from your nap?" she asked as she rubbed the little head.

"Mrew."

"Here," Violet said abruptly as she dumped the kitten into Raph's lap, to his utter surprise. Before he could interject with anything she said, "Have a kitten. Fuzz therapy, and in the meantime I'll fix us both something to drink. I can't make you drink it but it'll be there if you want it."

And she disappeared into the kitchen.

Raph swore softly under his breath. He wondered even more what the hell was going on, even moreso because he had the strangest feeling she'd looked right through him.

"I haven't asked," she said quietly as she carefully balanced a tray with two cups of hot chocolate on it with her good arm. She laid it on the table beside the couch before sitting beside him this time. "I understand their reasoning. I won't do anything to jeapoardize you or your family. I don't even know what kind of 'trouble' you could get into here unless the purple dragons track me down with revenge on the brain."

She pressed a cup into his hands before he could object. "I'm afraid this is all I have that's hot to drink. If you don't want it I have pepsi or wild cherry pepsi, but besides water, that's it. Not much I can carry home with one arm. I can't find the one kind of tea I've ever been able to drink around here anyways. But this might help you a little."

((I have Mystic to thank for my minor forays into Japanese, as my spelling in that language classically sucks.))

Violet shrugged. "I can't remember really. I've only had it a few times and it wasn't long before my father's death. He's the one who always fixed it and I never knew it's name, only that it was more or less oriental and was a sort of berry tea. It was the only one I could ever stomach. It wasn't green tea though."

Raphael shrugged. "Like I said, Leo's the tea addict. Your old man sounds like he was into that kind of stuff."

"Oh, he was. He spent many years in Japan and absorbed a lot of culture, enough so that when he returned to the states he was a curious mixture of both. I didn't go so far though."

She sipped her hot chocolate and swallowed painfully because it was scorching hot, whispering a word under her breath that made Raphael blink.

"What did you say there?"

She turned red. "It was nothing."

"It sure as hell wasn't nuthin'. You absorbed enough if you can swear in Japanese."

He looked amused. Violet blushed redder.

"Oh, yaki mashi! I can't help it sometimes." She blew on her hot chocolate to cool it. "Daddy was the fluent one. I have a good base understanding and can converse simply but....well, I'm not fully fluent."

"Everyone gets the swear words down matter what," he said with a smirk. "Universal rule there."

She smiled reluctantly, almost sickly. "My father was pretty strict on my swearing, but it doesn't mean I can't. Or haven't, lately."

She paused, cup in hand, as she stared into space for a moment. "I haven't had a chance to say a few things to you," she said quietly after a moment. "I'm sorry that I reacted the way I did a few days ago when you touched me. I know I said I was sorry then but....well I still feel bad. I couldn't help it after what happened. Nor can I promise it won't happen again. I hope it fades.

"And the second thing is...I never did get a chance to thank you....I was unarmed that night, and there were a lot of them. I couldn't hold them off forever. You saved my life."

Violet watched in fascination as color rose on his face, as he didn't strike her as someone who blushed easily.

"I'm not ungrateful after all," she said quietly but with a small smile. "Even with what happened later at your home. I understand your reasons even if I was drugged at least twice."

He flushed further and drank his hot chocolate without comment. She had noticed.

Akira had gotten up and was traveling between their laps, his little nose sniffing the air. He looked at Violet and meowed.

"This isn't for kittens, you little minx," she told him. "Chocolate is toxic to cats."

"Mow," he said, giving her an aggreived look.

"It's bad enough you eat fruit in a very un-catlike manner," she continued while stroking his head.

Raph nearly choked on his hot chocolate. "That cat eats fruit?"

"Afraid so. He takes it for granted that whatever I get to eat he gets to eat, and that isn't a good thing for a cat because I'm a vegetarian. I found out his fruit preferences by accident to begin with."

Raph stared at Akira, who'd curled himself in his lap again. "You have one weird little furball."

"You won't hear me arguing there. But he's fearless, and loyal, and I'm very surprised by the fact he seems to like you so much because he's so wary of strangers. He's cowed two salesmen into giving up their pitches early because he'd hiss and attack their pant legs furiously."

"I know, I've done it all my life in some form or other. The danger was always there and now....." she shuddered and didn't go on. But Raph could pick up on what she didn't say.

"Ya got that pretty right on the nose. That's just how it is." His voice was only half sarcastic this time.

She decided to change the subject slightly.

"Can you at least tell me enough about her so I have an idea of what to expect if I do meet her?" Violet felt she was justified in asking at least this. "I don't care to bring down more trouble."

He wondered how to phrase it. "Well......uh....she's very protective and picture...." he trailed off, suddenly not sure how to say it even though it was obvious.

He'd glanced down at himself inadvertently and Violet glanced closely at him for a moment before she hazarded a wild guess. "Your hotheadedness in female form maybe? Am I going to have to be armed when I meet her or something?"