Xanthous brings a small paper cup of coffee with him on his way to work.

He strolls down the streets, heading for his café, when he spots a woman, huddled into an alleyway.

Xanthous stops in his tracks, shuffling out of the way of the people bustling around him, and stares at her. He needs to do something, anything, to help her. His conscience would never leave him alone, otherwise.

So Xanthous fishes around in his coat pocket, pulling out a couple of coins, walks over to the woman, and hands her his cup of (untouched) coffee and the coins in his hands.

She gives him a strange look.

Xanthous shrugs. "You looked cold," he says to her.

And it's true. The woman trembles slightly at the light wind blowing through, her dress torn and ripped to shreds. (He briefly wonders what had happened. Could she have been attacked by something, or someone? But if so, where is the blood that ought to stain her and her clothes. . . ?).

She makes no move to take them.

Xanthous gently places the cup on the ground near her feet (she shuffles back a bit, her eyes narrowed and her mouth frowning suspiciously) and drops the coins near them. He backs away slowly, smiling softly at her.

Giving a small wave, Xanthous pivots on his heel and continues on his way, feeling a little better than he had earlier that morning.

0-0-0-0-0-0

Liam sneaks a pastry out of the display, and freezes when he catches Xanthous' disapproving glare from his spot to his right.

Slowly, Liam raises the pastry to his mouth and bites into it, staring Xanthous in the eye. He blinks owlishly at his boss, eyes revealing poorly concealed glee.

Liam suddenly doubles over, silently laughing and trying not to spit out the bit of pastry in his mouth. Xanthous barks out a laugh at the act.

0-0-0-0-0-0

Xanthous stares at the ground as he walks home, mind half-focused on the path home, the other running over the lyrics of the song he listens to. He hurries past the mouth of an alleyway-

-His back painfully collides with hard concrete, his earbuds flying out of his ears, and he lets out a pained noise.

"What magic is this!" A voice, sounding like broken windchimes, practically shrieks from somewhere above him.

Xanthous scrambles back, tensed, panic rising in him. He makes eye contact with the person who'd-would 'kidnapped' be a good word for this?-him, and recognizes them as the homeless woman he'd helped earlier that day. She waves the now-empty cup wildly. It's practically in his face.

He blinks, baffled. "Um?"

"It is hot and has rejuvenated me!" Her deep blue eyes bulge out of her thin face. "What potion is it!"

"I-it's just coffee, ma'am."

"You must teach me how to make it!"

Xanthous blinks again, still tense. No. Don't say yes. Mission abort. ABORT. You better not fucking agree. "Uh, sure?"

You had one fucking job, dipshit.

0-0-0-0-0-0

Xanthous is painfully aware of the woman watching his every move. He doesn't comment on it, though, instead choosing to focus on preparing everything he needs.

The woman is a good listener, despite not knowing how to work various machines, and not having any knowledge of everyday things. (Xanthous wonders if she's been homeless her entire life. It is a pretty good possibility, but something tells him it's much, much more than that.) Xanthous finds himself enjoying teaching her, if only a little bit.

"Do you have a name?" Xanthous asks, waiting for the coffee to be made. He taps his fingers on the countertop, subconsciously drumming out the rhythm of a song. She's staring intently at the coffee maker.

"Amarris," she says.

"'Amarris'?" Xanthous makes a face, unsure if he had pronounced it correctly.

"Mhmm." She nods, looking pleased. Her eyes never once stray from the coffee maker.

"Okay. I'm Xanthous."

Amarris hums.

When the coffee is done, Xanthous slides over two paper cups and pours the dark liquid into it, pushing one towards his new acquaintance.

"Careful, it's-" Amarris quickly grabs the cup and greedily takes a gulp, only to splutter a spray of coffee onto the counter as it burns her mouth. "Hot," Xanthous finishes. He moves to get a cloth.

Amarris nods, eyes watering. "Good to know."

Xanthous tries to make small talk with her, as he scrubs the counter free of coffee. He talks about his café, his coworkers, funny stories. Anything that he can think of that isn't so personal, really.

Amarris does not lift her cup to her mouth again. Not until Xanthous raises his own to his lips, at least.

Amarris drains her cup of coffee in a matter of moments, taking large, loud gulps.

Xanthous struggles to keep his face neutral.

Amarris slams down her cup, causing it to crinkle close to the bottom of it. She licks her cracked, ashy lips, and tilts her head as she looks at him, a near contemplative expression on her face. "No curse of mine shall ever befall you from my dying breath," she vows sagely, nodding slowly.

"Thank-Thank you? I think?"

0-0-0-0-0-0

So Amarris has been camping outside of his café for a while now.

Xanthous doesn't have the heart to tell her to leave.

"So how'd you meet her?" Robin squints at her huddled form outdoors. Amarris, occasionally, casts withering glares at people as they stroll in. Most curl back. Some don't spare her a glance.

"I gave her a cup of coffee," Xanthous says, not looking up.

". . ."

"And I walk home from yesterday's shift, and she just sort of. . . Drags me into an alleyway and demands that I teach her how to make coffee."

". . . ."

"So I teach her, right, and now she's just kinda. . ." Xanthous gestures to her. "Out there." Like some kind of guardian angel. Or guardian spirit. Something like that.

"Well," Ryan begins hesitantly, biting his lip, looking uncertain, "she's not doing anything bad, is she? I mean, she's just sorta sitting there."

"I'm fine with her being there. Just as long as she doesn't attack anybody."

Robin's lips purse as she glances up for a brief moment, staring out the window at the hunched form. "I dunno, guys. . . I'm getting some kind of bad vibe from her."

"You're just overthinking things," Ryan tells her. "It's probably nothing."

Xanthous pointedly stares at the counter, choosing not to say that he too feels that there is something. . . Off about Amarris.

Xanthous tries to forget about it, forcing his mind onto other things.

(If only.)

0-0-0-0-0-0

Listen. LISTEN. I thought it'd be funny if Xanthous got 'adopted' by a witch akjjsksknsnska

Also if I didn't make it obvious enough Amarris is *intended* to be one of the few witches that escaped during World Collide so