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When Riv had called her out of the blue, he hadn't expected that she'd agree to that off-hand suggestion she'd made in the maze. Visiting that thrift store her friend owned... It was a thin excuse to say the least, but Rivener had just wanted to see the Muse again. For purely innocent friendship-type reasons, he told himself. The niggling sliver of guilt in his gut had absolutely no business being there! So what if Melisande was gorgeous, fascinating, delicate, and instilled his protective urges into flaring like hardly anyone else did? So what? He could react like that about a friend! Hell, look at... At... Vyn!

And yet he knew there was a deep, deep difference in the way he regarded Melisande and Vyn.

Shaking his head and convincing himself once again that this was merely a platonic visit, Rivener eased himself off the bus and rustled the kinks out of his wings. He'd normally have flown here, but he didn't want the wind messing up his hair. ...And that was just vanity, regular vanity, not wanting to impress her.

Rivener wore a fitted button-down, charcoal gray with the slightest reflective pinstripes. The collar was white, as were the cuffs, though those were hidden as the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows to show off his usual wrist decorations. The multiple belts had lowered to take the place of his ribbon, as always, and he wore sunglasses on his head to keep his hair pinned back. He'd made sure to brush the black-and-red locks to perfect smoothness, leaving them down around his shoulders. If he looked at himself in every mirror he crossed and adjusted his sunglasses or smoothed at his forelocks, smirking, it's only because he knew he was handsome. Not because he hoped it would strike her just as clearly.

The shop was easy enough to find with Pasha's directions, and as Riv approached he had to admit it looked rather pretty. Promising, even. Not a run-down thrift shop like he was used to seeing. Taking a deep breath, then snorting at himself because why the hell would he need to steel himself if he wasn't trying to impress her, Riv opened the door and floated in.

He spotted her immediately, and the Scorpion's face brightened into an appreciative grin. His eyes ran up and down her as he crossed the store to her side, admiring. One of the dark eyebrows quirked up in amusement. "Well, you look quite stylish already. It's good to see you, Melisande." He floated to a stop not far from her, tilting his head. It was already beyond difficult to look away, and he hadn't noticed the store's owner just beside the blonde Sigel.

Rivener noticed the human when she blurted out that he looked gorgeous, in that shocked and admiring tone. Nothing less than such stellar compliments would have gotten him to look away from Melisande as she swished her skirt like that. Even though the blonde had no real hips or legs yet, that short skirt flipping up at the edges like that still made him smile in appreciation. That smile turned to Viola and he bowed his head gratefully for the praise, though a moment later Meli had stolen his attention again, floating forward to kiss at the air near him. His hand had moved to the curve of her waist instinctively when she leaned up, and he'd leaned down in turn to make it easier for her to reach.

She smelled divine. Those flowers in her hair, or her shampoo, whichever. It was breath-taking. Which is why he straightened as quick as he did and removed his hand, trying to drill it into his head. Friend, friend, friend! Don't you dare flirt! You're with ZUL!

"Viola. Pleased to meet you." He took the woman's hand and kissed the back of her knuckles, grinning. "Whatever you did to help Melisande, thank you. You've got a really nice place!"

What had started as a perfunctory compliment turned quite sincere as he finally looked around the room. His eyebrows rose. "Are you sure this is a thrift store?"

Rivener had to admit that he enjoyed having that kind of effect on someone. As Viola stumbled and stuttered her way into the side room, the Scorpion rustled his wings and chuckled, looking a tiny bit smug and confident. He tried to keep his vanity private for the most part, but once in a while he just had to bask in other people's admiration. He followed Melisande when she drew him to the closest clothing racks, his eyes crinkling with delight to see they were sorted by color. He WAS rather partial to red. "What a fascinating sorting system." The idea of being offered the right to dress up a mannequin however he wanted was quite fun, too. He did enjoy style.

Her tone caught his heart and he looked over, crossing that rueful gaze. "I'm glad I could come, too. And, well, however you helped it looks wonderful now. How different was it? Why do I get the impression I shouldn't ask? ...Am I also not supposed to ask who Alto is? ...Is this what I think it is??" He interrupted his own train of thought to pull one of the red shirts from the rack, eyes wide. He flipped the collar open to check the tag, and his jaw dropped. "Holy-... This is like a hundred dollar shirt! Are you SURE this is a thrift store?!" The price this shirt was listed for sale here made his jaw drop again and Riv only put it back with the greatest regret because it was too small for him.

Aware that he might have stolen the lightning from his own question by exclaiming like that over a shirt, he figured he'd best ask again. He turned to face her so he couldn't get distracted by shirts again, red eyes finding it all too easy to remain pinned on that lovely form. "Why do you look so uncomfortable whenever you even mention this place? You helped make it what it is now, that should be a happy thing, shouldn't it?" He smiled at her to try and get her to mimic the expression.

Rivener's face fell into dark sympathy at her words. He burned with curiosity. Why had she left Aki's house? Was the woman being a bad guardian? The Scorpion had to smother a growl at that thought: there was nothing he hated more than bad guardians. But if she HAD been, Melisande had shown a strength that most didn't have. She removed herself from a situation she didn't like. He seriously doubted she had no friends, a delicate, wonderful person like her, but maybe she meant she had many acquaintances and no real close friends? No, even that was unbelievable. Riv himself would have a ton of places to stay, and he was so much more abrasive than she...

Suddenly she asked him a question and he stiffened, caught by surprise. His sympathy and confusion turned to regretful understanding. "...Yeah," he admitted, wings rustling uncomfortably. There were quite a few things he didn't like looking back on. Quite a few things he wasn't proud of. "Yeah, there is a few things. But I don't even think about them in daily life, whereas you always seem coccooned in the sad memories. I wish I could think of a way to make you enjoy the present instead of looking so sad."

He wanted to ask why she'd left Aki. He wanted to ask so bad, but after he'd just said that he would make her think of NOW instead, he'd be an absolute hypocrite. So he put that question away for now.

She held the shirt out on him and measured it, his lips quirking as he let her do it, moving however she pleased. That tickled him: he was usually stubborn and wouldn't move for someone until he was damned well good and ready, but one brush of her fingers and he was a puppet on a string. He already knew the shirt was too small but she tried anyway. It was rather sweet. Her diagnosis had him laughing softly and shaking his head. "I could, but the shoulders would still be too tight across the back. It wouldn't feel right. Sadly, I'll just leave it so someone else can have it. It's quite a steal. There's probably other things just as good in here, though. Here, how about you give me that, and I'll put it on the mannequin? He seems a Small, to me."

Rivener's chest gave a pain of recalled pain of his own when she mentioned Zave. He hadn't known how close the pair was, but Zave had been a good friend to Riv, and his passing... Frowning to push past this, the Scorpion paid attention to the rest of Melisande's admissions. She thought of where she came from when she saw this place? He looked around, and again he burned to ask, but he kept quiet for the sake of upholding his earlier declaration. No more thinking of the past.

Then she smiled at him so brightly and those eyes bore into him. He leaned forward. She thought of him differently now? When she saw him, she saw-...

Saw what? Oh god, what did she see!? She couldn't just stop there! Riv bristled so badly at the interruption that his wings snapped open momentarily before he pulled them back in, and he sent the human woman a rather baleful glare. Couldn't she have waited two seconds?

Pasha was off like a shot then, hurrying towards a melted pile of fuzz on the floor. THAT was Alto? A little pug? ...Well, not so little. Rivener followed, smirking as the Muse lowered herself all the way to the floor. She moved aside after a bit of cuddling, but Riv kept his distance. It's not that the thing wasn't cute... He smirked wryly.

"Cute dog. Kind of fat, but in a cute way. Seems a lot better behaved then Vyn's... THAT little monster chased Beauregard around so much the poor whale was terrorized." Suddenly he decided that this dog was not the same, and it wasn't fair of him to dislike all pugs because of one event. Shrugging, he grinned as he lowered to give the animal a soft scratch on the head, watching for any attempt at biting.

Rivener snickered as the pup barely wagged his tail, obviously in no state to chase anything, no. The Sigel straightened with hands on his hips, watching the small bundle of wrinkles yawn and apparently give up on trying to stay awake. It really was kind of cute. Pasha's question about the whale drew Riv's gaze again and he laughed, nodding. "Yeah, a pet flying, singing whale. It's one of those weird animals the Lab sometimes produces. It actually belongs to Isi, but I like it a lot. He has the most amazing, barry-white like voice. Oh, I think I have a video of him singing "At last" on my cell. Hold on." He grinned as he fished the phone out of his shirt pocket, absolutely certain that this would get a smile and a laugh out of the Muse.

He clicked and clicked, frowning. Was it on his old cell? Where was- ah! There it was! He brightened and turned the screen towards Melisande, snickering as the low, smooth tones of Beauregard's singing could be heard. The whale was flying around their living room belting out the song in time to a much tamer rendition of it being heard from the television.

He'd been right. She laughed and looked so happy and she shone like the sun. He couldn't help smiling along with her, laughing with her. She was touching his hand and he smacked himself internally to remember that he wasn't supposed to like that so much. "I'm sure he would LOVE to sing with you too. He often gets over-excited when he hears one of us sing. Whenever Aphi is in the shower singing, Beauregard will float in front of the bathroom door and sing along to whatever he knows the words to, and when Aphi sings something he DOESN'T know, he'll just launch into something else to get Aphi to follow along. He's adorable. I should bring him to you sometimes so you can meet!"

He put the phone away after the concert ended, pleased as punch that he'd gotten her to laugh, those spots of color on her face so damned lovely. She asked what they'd been talking about and the Scorpion flared his wings slightly, rustling them as he tried to remind her that she'd been about to reveal what she thought of him now, but before he could formulate a properly worded question, she'd moved on. He sighed at himself and followed along, one corner of his lips curling up dryly. He took up the shirt he'd left behind, that red number, and slipped it off the hanger to begin dressing the mannequin. All his attention was on her, though, glad to hear that she at least had happy times. Again he wanted to ask her what things she wanted to remember despite their sadness, wanted to ask WHY she needed to remember those things, but he was suddenly in the spotlight.

"What makes me happy? ...Small things, I guess. I enjoy my work, all my coworkers are fun to be around. I like looking at things on the internet. I like... spending time with... the people I love." He tried to tell himself he hadn't mentioned Zul's name because it would make the muse uncomfortable, but he wasn't so certain that was true. Half of him felt guilty as hell: he was avoiding mentioning his relationship, and there wasn't much reason why he'd do that except for...

He'd better put the spotlight on her again. "Do you really only feel happy when you sing? You must like fashion, too, like me. You're always so pretty."