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Well, his recent talks had most certainly been... enlightening. On more ways than one, and Gabrian had actually taken a couple of days to ponder the newly gained information over before deciding on a course of action. The nix wasn't used to asking for forgiveness and he had been having trouble figuring out how to approach the issue - that was without actually even begining to figure out what he was going to do about their pending demon pact. The favor he owed her didn't really bother him (funny that!) it was the one she owed him - he had no idea how to go around it. No matter how sweet and naive Alessa was, he was well aware she was going to notice one day when he asked her to do something and she had no other choice than to do it.

He paused mid march down the hallway looked at the wall to his right. Then, softly, he allowed his forehead to fall against it with a small, resounding 'thunk'. He remained there thinking for several minutes before he pulled himself up, straightened his clothes and then marched on.

Right.

First things first. He was just going to tackle this all one step at a time. Forgivness first, and... then he'd figure out the other half of the problem (namely, the pact) some other time. He wasn't in any sort of rush to get that pact worked out anyhow; it wasn't like he was on a timer afterall. Reaching Alessa's dormroom (he'd gotten the num,ber and floor from Ren himself), he knocked and waited, hoping the ghould at least wouldn't freak out when she saw him. They hadn't left on the best of terms last time.

Well at least she hadn't slammed the door shut upon seeing him; Gabrian took that as a good sign. Granted, she was obviously nervous to the point the ghoul looked scared, which was rather jarring in a way. He was used to her coming at him with a growl, certainly not this though. He distracted himself by watching the small, white pelted lepus approach and then leave, sulking rather heavily; he should have brought his pirate lepus over, but in all honesty, a minipet playdate had been the last thing on his mind the past several days. Way too many things had happened, and Gabrian suspected it had all happened just a bit too fast.

Seeing as how the ghoul didn't look like she was going to shove her mind out of second gear, he decided to take the lead; he'd come sort of prepared for this, after all, "May I come in?" a pause, and almost as if he'd only just realized he should be nicer, "Please," there was no teasing tone to his voice, no smirk, in fact, if anything, he looked a touch weary, "I want to talk with you, and I very much rather not do it out here in the hallway," it was going to be awkward enough as it was without the possibility of someone stumbling in to listen to the whole ordeal, "Just hear me out. And when I'm done, I'll leave you be. Deal?" he didn't offer her his hand to shake or anything - it was just said out of habit, really. He was going to have to outgrow that habit. And fast.

His peered beyond the door, and motioned towards the poor lepus, "I... didn't think to bring Shiro for him. I'm sorry," what was most interesting was that the apology sounded sincere.

Gabrian decided that this whole ordeal couldn't have been more awkward if they'd tried to make it so. When the ghoul made way to let him in, the nix lost no time in entering the room, moving slowly to look around; he'd never been in Alessa's room and was struck speechless at how uh.... pink it was. In fact, he now had the destinct need to gift her a piyomon, just due to the fact it was also pink and it would fit in nicely with the damned room. Yes, it was that 'bad'.

By the time he was done taking in his surroundings, Alessa was back on her bed, drying her hair and offering him a seat. He paused for a moment, looking clearly out of his depths (which was ironic, given the fact he was a water based creature), "Right," he said as he took a seat on the couch, still looking mildly uncomfortable is his shifting was any indication, "Right..." it was repeated again, as if to give himself time to figure out just how to start talking, "Yes. Yes I do," he finally looked at her then, "About that day. The one where we played spin the bottle, actually, to be exact," he didn't have to be so precise; he knew she'd known what day he'd been talking about, even before specifying, "I voiced my thoughts rather early in the game," he lifted a finger, as if to hush her before she could say anything (she had the tendency of jumping in before he could so much as explain and he wished to get everything he had to say, out first), "First off, I want to apologise. There was no need for me to snap quite like that, no matter how frustrated I was at the time. It was rude, uncalled for and I'm sorry," amazingly enough, it sounded like he meant what he said.

"Second off, I want to point out that I do feel very much like that, and while my timing and execution were very much off, I wanted to figure out just why you seem to hate me, so I may rectify the behavior in the future. I'm not quite sure what it is about me that sets you off in such a manor that you feel the need to fight me every step of the way," he paused here, as if to allow the words to sink in, and then continued, "Before you mention Ren, I must point out that while to an onlooker the relationship might be similar, it is not. I find I rather like the gryphon, and I know that what he says is not meant in any harmful sort of way. Likewise, my frustration with him is not heartfelt, while yours with me is. As such... please do enlighten me. Because I do honestly like you."

While the fact she had actually listened to him without interrupting was a miracle in his mind, he chose against pointing it out. It didn't seem like the time or place for teasing, seeing as how he figured it was one of the things that so easily set her off. It was just... something easy for him to fall back into; while he could do it with Ren without colateral damage, the gryphon had pointed out he couldn't keep on doing it with Alessa, since she reacted much differently.

Her voice was a whisper, and had the room not been as quiet as it was, the nix probably wouldn't have heard her. Her apology was equally quiet, though entirely unexpected; Gabrian had come to her room fully expecting her to pretty much toss her out after his tirade the other day, and instead... she seemed rather chastised. Perhaps Ren had been right to assume he'd done more damage than he'd intended to. After a beat, almost as if the nix expected her to keep on going; to add to what little she'd managed to say, he finally got up from his place. There was a tiny bit of hesitation, and for a moment it might've looked like he was going to allow himself back out, but instead, he made his way purposely towards her bed, taking a seat beside her.

He remained silent for just a moment before he turned to look down at her (it was mildly amusing that even sitting side by side, he still easily towered over her), "Don't be," he told her softly, "I'd just honestly, much rather know what I've been doing to set you off so much, if you truly don't hate me," she wasn't looking at him though, and it was extremely hard to gauge her actual feelings. As such, he moved mostly on instinct, reaching out with one hand to tilt her chin up, so that their eyes met, "I promise I don't bite. At least not in the way you think I do."

"Do what?" he seemed honestly confused, and his brows knitted together as he tried to make sense of what she was saying, "Touch you?" he blinked, and then tilted his head to one side slightly as she tried to explain herself, his hand retreating to his lap. The fact his touch could do this to her somehow really... threw him for a loop, "If it helps you any, I wasn't making fun of you just then. In fact, I rarely make fun of you. Well, maybe at first I did but then..." a pause followed as he leaned away from her, as if to give her space, "As I said; I like you. You're not what I expected, and I find you endearing; I would very much like to be your friend, but it's hard for me when you uh..." he motioned to the way she was obviously fighting to bite her tongue, "Do that. See what I mean? Even if you feel like I've done something to wrong you, I technically didn't. It's very hard for me to do anything for you because you instantly suspect me of having second motives."

As she turned away after her initial huff and fuss, the demon placed one leg of his free knee and then placed an elbow over that. He moved until his face was resting against his fisted hand and then regarded her evenly, almost as if expecting to figure her out on the spot by doing so. His gaze was almost predatory in nature, not that the poor demon noticed, but then again, when one's other form was a serpent it was... hard to look otherwise when scrutinizing someone, "That's fine," he finally drawled out, "Don't apologise," again, his words seemed sincere; his talk with Ren, in fact, enlightened him on the fact that the ghoul didn't particularly seem to have a beef with him, and that as such, wasn't looking to personally offend him with her actions or her words, "I think it's a defense mechanism," he told her suddenly, sounding rather calm now that he'd managed to push out what he'd initially wanted to say, "I think... that it's how you deal with things you don't know how to handle. Or people. Namely me," in other words, that probably meant she had no idea how to handle him, which was, all in all, rather amusing, though he was doing a good job at hiding the mirth, seeing as how his features remain nonchalant.

After a moment or two more, he finally shifted again, lifting his head from it's perch, stopping his studying of her features in order to address her a touch more evenly, "Okay. So," he drawled out finally, "At least... now you're aware of it. I also wanted to let you know that I, in no way, meant to hurt you like I did," he let out a small, weary sigh, turning away from her as he looked out her window. He again, seemed to look uncomfortable; it was safe to assume that any sort of talk that meant him having to reveal a part of himself made him feel out of his depths, "I sometimes take things very personally. And I was taking personal offense to what you told me. I'm not used to people going out of their way to antagonise me," when he finally looked her way, he arched an elegant brow up, "I'd just like to note that I am, in no way, interested in bitting you. In any sense of the word. I figure that's the gryphon's job now... I approve of your choice of mate... but don't tell him that, and you two should concider going out with LW and me at some point," why yes, he had, in fact, admitted in one smooth, elegant breathe of air that he knew she was dating Ren, that he approved and that he was interested in a double date of sorts, "Also, I wasn't teasing you just there," he felt the need to add that too, just in case.

The unspoken question was not lost to him, though it seemed that for a long moment, he was deeply concidering not answering, "When I got to know you," he told her, "Or rather," here he looked away from her and towards the ceiling, as if in thought, "What little you let me see; you're a stubborn little thing. The glimpses I got were mostly when you interacted with others, really," a slight shrug was offered at this point, "I simply liked what I saw. It was different from the side you were showing me, and I'm afraid I'm curious by nature," he finally returned his gaze to her, watching as she squirmed whenever his eyes settled on her, "Actually, it was pretty soon. Hhhmmm... round about after our second music lesson or so. The shift was there, but I think you were simply too keen on seeing me as a threat."

When she spoke again, he tilted his head to one side, the gesture remeniscent of innocence, and yet... not quite, because something about him, even in human form, was oddly predatory in nature, "Look how?" his gaze lowered to watch her movements; she was obviously unnerved, and it was only due to the fact he'd come to her room with an open mind that it finally seemed to dawn on him that she was scared of him, "Ooooh..." a pause followed, during which he shifted and turned his gaze away from her, instead choosing to settle for watching her lepus pet as it sulked in the corner, "Well... I'm afraid I can't help that. I am what I am. It's simply how I look. That would be similar to asking a ghost not to be incorporeal; it's simply in my nature, and I can't change that," again, there was a pause, but this time it was almost as if the demon was hesitant to continue. In fact, he shifted uncomfortably for a moment, very much resembling a child that had to tell his parents something he didn't wish them to know. Alas, he'd resolved to give the ghoul a chance, and he couldn't very well do that unless she was (at the very least) comfortable enough around him to let him do so. Her thinking he was going to hurt or eat her every time he looked at her very much set a damper on his plan.

The pause stretched out until it became rather pregnant, actually, but he finally let out a sigh, still not willing to look at her, "I'll let you in on a little secret," he said softly,"I'm afraid your fear is unfounded," this time he did finally turn his gaze towards her, "I'm pretty much harmless, actually. And no, I'm not joking. I'm being rather serious. I'm not even allthat fond of meat, and would very much rather have something sweet - it's a big part of the reason I was sent here, Alessa," that said, he waved a hand, "You were present when a snowman almost ended me. I can pretty much assure you that my bark is much, much worse than my bite," that said, he reached out and patted her leg for a moment before pushing himself off the bed, "I think that's more than fair enough," he told her after she spoke, "And I accept your apology," he turned around, but paused, taking a moment to look over his shoulder at her, "I'll be going now. I think you've had your share of awkward for the day by now. But as a last thought... I really did mean what I told you in Etiquette class that other day; if you need me... you know where to find me," he then walked towards the door and unless she were to stop him, he very much planned on leaving it at that.

"There's more ways to harm someone than physically," he told her,"But no, I would never hurt you physically. I wouldn't hurt you in any other way either; at least not conciously, which sort of goes back to the explanation of why I'm here in the first place, as you might have noticed," he'd stopped and was looking at her over his shoulder, speaking softly, "I never meant to hurt you in the way that I did. I was much too brusque in my delivery," he narrowed his eyes suddenly, as if looking through her. It was only because he was looking that he actually stumbled upon what was making her uncomfortable, "You know," he drawled out as he turned to face her fully, "I never thought of you as someone harmless that needed to be coddled. I'm quite sure you can take perfect care of yourself," a pause, almost as if he were hesitating, and after a moment, he gritted his teeth and let out a sigh.

Seeing as how today was a day for confessions, it was only normal to get this off his chest too, "I think you might be misinterpretting," this was whispered as he looked away, "I'm not sure if ..." another pause and he took the moment to look at her again, almost confused, "You've not noticed, have you?" he drew nearer again, kneeling down on one knee in front of her so that their eyes were on the same level, "I have a bit of a weakness when it comes to cute things, Alessa. LW noticed this the day she met me. I doubt she's told you, because I made her promise not to tell anyone; I confused her with a pet. A random puppy, and I cuddled her," he actually managed not to blush, but then again... he'd blushed enough over this that it no longer prompted the reaction it used to from him, "I think there might've been some nuzzling too... until I noticed what she really was," a small cough was released over a fisted hand, "At any rate, what I'm getting at is that my behavior has a lot less to do with my thinking you might be a harmless, innocent rabbit and much more with my thinking you're cute. I try not to show that side often, but I can't help slipping at times. Ren knows about it - in fact, the gryphon caught on far sooner than he had any right to, damn him."

At this point, he rose up again and turned to go. Her voice stopped him though, and he turned to look at her, waiting for her to meet his gaze despite having risen herself to go to the bookshelf. Once he was sure she was looking at him, he offered her a small, gentle, actually genuine smile, "I do love sweet things too," he murmured, "I'll be sure to take you up on that offer quite soon. Though for now, I think I'll let you be seeing as how I think I might've interrupted you," he motioned at her wet hair with a smirk this time."

"Apple pie," it was said without any hesitation, almost instantly as soon as she'd spoken, "I've always wanted to try apple pie," he made an approving, humming sound in the back of his throat, and then nodded his head, as if to reaffirm his words, "As far as the rest... you're excused," he snorted slightly, though it was clear that the wry amusement was more due to his timing than anything else; he'd had no way to know she'd only just finished showering.

By the time that had been said, he'd reached the door, and his hand lowered to the knob. It rested there for a moment, and he then turned to glance at her one last time before slipping out the door, feeling much better than he'd arrived, that was for sure. Maybe the gryphon had been right to assume they needed to talk.