Albel growled slightly as he watched the redhead exchange hugs with the two. The first thought that had come to mind was something like - Don'ttouchhershe'smine -- which got garbled with - butIdidn'tclaimherwhenIhadthechance -- and left him simply scowling. Out of all places in the universe, he had to admit he had never imagined that he would see this... Earth.
The next thing he knew, the two were dragging Nel away toward the direction of their house, and he followed, his expression still irritated. Somehow they had managed to drag the large stack of books at the same time. Even their house was more high-tech than theirs, the rooms somewhat similar to the Diplo's setup. The two Elicoorians were sat down in what seemed like a living room and before either could complain, Sophia had re-entered with a large measuring tape. Normally Albel would have sliced her head off if she had gotten close, but he was too busy being confused to have thought to do such a thing. When she apparently was done measuring, she rushed off again, leaving Fayt to explain.
"Since you're here for now, you'll need to wear some clothes more native to Earth," he pointed out, and Nel nodded. Albel on the other hand, wasn't so thrilled at this concept. His clothes were comfortable as is, and anyone who would say otherwise he wasn't ashamed to kill.
The area went quiet for a moment, and then the woman spoke, shaking her head a few times. "We'll need to find a way to return to Elicoor." she stated. "The transporter disappeared when we arrived here."
"I can explain that." a familiar voice echoed, and both of the Elicoorians turned to spot Maria Traydor walking in from one of the other rooms. Her clothing had changed to casual clothes, nothing like Sophia's uniform but also nothing like the clothes she had in Quark. She shot the two a haughty smile and Albel noted she still flipped her hair. Ugh. Arrogant wench. "I got a message from Cliff and Mirage a short while ago. Cliff thought it was a good idea to have us take a get-together of sorts since we haven't seen each other for a year." she rolled her eyes. "So he was sending Mirage off to set up portals whereever she could. They weren't able to contact you two, but they were able to contact the royalty-- the king of Airyglyph and the queen of Aquaria. They weren't really sure if the portal was even going to work. Apparently," she gestured toward the two, "It did."
"So how are we supposed to get back?"
"Cliff and Mirage will take care of that."
Albel took a glance toward Fayt, who looked surprisingly excited. Did he miss the oaf by some chance? Albel did not. Actually, he cared little for a reunion. This would mean the mission was-- well-- rigged. If Arzei and Romeria both knew why this was-- then obviously they had sent both Nel and Albel for a reason. Bah. Scheming little...
"Say," Nel spoke again, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Why are you here, Maria? I thought you would be elsewhere."
Maria shook her head. "I'm done with Quark. Earth is my home, and I have to make sure that these two don't do anything funny." she added in, glancing toward Fayt and the area where Sophia had been prior. "Cliff wouldn't be too happy if he knew about it."
A faint smile appeared on her face. Slowly, the question was asked. "What about Lieber?"
"Me? What about me?" Lieber blurted out, stepping out from behind Maria. His expression was as goofy as ever and his hair was a mess. Maria took a cautious step to the side, raising her leg just enough to kick him in the knee. "Ow!"
"Oh, sorry, Lieber." Maria stated, her voice dry. "I didn't see you there."
As the two began to "chat," Fayt explained, "Lieber wouldn't let go of Maria after he confessed to her on the Diplo. She said she owed him one or something so she's letting him live with us, but otherwise things seem the same as always."
So in other words Lieber was still around so Maria could boss him around. Made sense. Sophia burst into the door soon enough, carrying two boxes, and before Albel knew what was happening, he was thrust into a room with one of the boxes with an order to "Get changed! Heehee."
The man opened the box, frowning a bit at the odd fashion. He would much prefer just slaughtering those who commented on his style, but in order to save trouble, he figured to do as he was told.
---
Nel was happy that Sophia had been courteous not to have gotten her a school uniform. The girlish skirt would have been a little too much for her. She got something casual, a turtleneck sweater and long pants, and she wrapped her scarf around herself. She didn't feel too comfortable with leaving her daggers behind, though, so she left them snapped on, hoping no one would take them away. When she returned, she noticed the group was busily admiring Albel, who had gotten changed into something apparently more normal. Which meant just a long white shirt and pants, but if it was someone who could pull that off in style, it was him.
Albel didn't look so pleased. "Hmph."
She smiled faintly to herself, finding herself humored with his obvious discomfort. To think that a man would be more used to wearing a skirt than pants was something those on Earth would probably not understand. She cleared her throat to try and get the others' attention, and they turned toward her. "So," she said, "When exactly is this 'get-together'?"
"Probably whenever Cliff gets here," Sophia pointed out, shrugging.
"Depends on his mood.... and if his hunches get ahead of himself," Maria added in, and both girls shook their heads in mock irritation. "It shouldn't be too long. I'll message them."
Maria exited the room, which meant Lieber trailed out with her. Nel wasn't too overjoyed to see Lieber around, but as usual made no move to bother anyone else with this thought. Sophia was starting to eagerly start a chat with Fayt, who looked toward the two Elicoorians with a worried glance. She figured he was thinking he wasn't showing enough hospitality toward the two and she gave him a quick smile to reassure him. She shifted her gaze toward Albel, who was now standing and looking outside of a window. Frowning, she stepped over toward him. They had a lovely view, she admitted, and most of the city could be seen where they were.
There were homes of all different shapes and sizes, and later she found out that the larger buildings were places of work and the dome like ones were places to go for entertainment. The smaller places were homes as she had originally thought.
Albel grunted, and she tilted her head, questioning. It took him a while to speak, and she figured he was making sure that the others were too distracted to notice. "That scum." he hissed, "They already knew where the teleporter led."
"Mm." Nel sighed. She would have appreciated a little heads-up herself. If the queen had known, why didn't she send her to the portal herself? And why did she have to hear it from the king's mouth over hers? "I guess it'll be a nice break from working around Arias, though." she added in, her voice quiet.
He didn't respond for a moment, then turned toward her, seeming as irritated as always. He seemed to pause, and she noted that was probably because he hadn't seen her change of clothes as well.
A quick raise of an eyebrow. A glance aside.
"You look comfortable in those clothes, wench." he stated.
She couldn't help but shoot back, "Yes, you do too."
The redhead heard his grumble as she stepped away from him, commenting loudly enough to shake the others from their conversation. "I hate to interrupt, but is there a place that I could put my things? It seems like we'll be here for a little bit."
Fayt and Sophia exchanged glances, and Fayt nodded. "Alright. We have two spare--"
Sophia cut him off, Nel raising an eyebrow when she saw the girl clamp her hand over Fayt's mouth. "I hope you don't mind, but we only have one place for you guys to stay. We have to set up our other one for Cliff and Mirage...and it's still a mess right now anyway."
"Sufiiaamphhhhhhh--"
Nel didn't miss Sophia jabbing her friend in the ribs once before releasing him, an angelic smile appearing on her face. "I know you two shared a place in the Diplo before so it's safe enough to let you stay in a room here right? And don't worry! There's two beds so neither of you have to stay on the floor."
Before Fayt could bring up an alternate solution, Sophia glowered toward him and Maria reentered, yawning. "Seems like according to Mirage's calculations, they should be here late tomorrow evening. Sophia.... you might want to start working on... 'cleaning the guest room.'"
The two exchanged glances, and Nel raised an eyebrow. Something was definitely amiss here. And sharing a room with Albel was not something she really wanted to do now after their night in Peterny. The redhead glanced toward Albel, then pursed her lips together before she spoke, keeping her voice high in spirits. "It's alright, really. I can stay on a couch or something. I don't think that Albel wants me in the same room."
Albel rolled his eyes. Maria blinked. Fayt blinked. Sophia frowned. Lieber-- oh who cares about him.
"But you didn't have a problem with him last year on the Diplo," Sophia said, pouting.
"There's a difference between a year and now, scum," Albel finally hissed. "And if you didn't realize, we didn't have a choice. That had to do with our mission."
"Doesn't this too?"
"A mission to save the world is different from a mission to come here to have a reunion," Nel pointed out.
She was right, kind of. But it was apparently a mission, and however silly it may seem, Nel knew that she was going to be outnumbered. Both of the other girls seemed firmly set on keeping the two in their own quarters. She sighed. Probably to keep Albel out of any trouble he might cause. Fayt would be the only one else who could suppress him, and well, Sophia was probably the kind who was scared to sleep on her own. She probably needed to cuddle her Fayt to be able to get any rest.
Nel sighed again. At least the girl had someone to cuddle. Not like Nel Zelpher needed a teddy bear of sorts. She had a feeling that she would be getting little to no rest at all if she was to share a room with Albel yet again. He'll get plenty of sleep, lucky him. She'd just end up pondering the whole night through. She didn't look forward to this in the least. Maybe if she--
"Actually," she said, standing up and shaking her head. "I'm kind of tired right now. I hope you don't mind if I take a nap."
"Oh, sure, go ahead! Here, I'll show you to your room." Sophia was instantly up, grabbing her arm and leading her aside.
Once the two were together, Sophia grinned, and Nel had a bad feeling about it all. "Don't worry! I've seen how he looks at you. You two are such a cute couple."
What?!
Nel felt her face burn slightly. "W--wait, don't be mistaken. We just came here together because we both got assigned a mission to--"
"Well, here we are!" the brunette exclaimed, obviously not listening to a word that Nel had said. "Sorry it's kind of messy."
The room was rather spacious, which made Nel feel relieved and indeed it had two beds across from each other. They were large beds, with frilly sheets that made the woman chuckle a bit. Albel sleeping in a bed with frilly pink sheets-- it would be something to behold. The only thing "messy" she could find in the room were a stack of papers on the single desk.
The woman waited for Sophia to excuse herself before she took a seat on one of the beds. Another sigh escaped from her lips. To think that this supposedly important mission was just a scheme to get the two to see the others. It wasn't that she minded, of course. It was just that she had been all tensed up for no reason. Maybe the two rulers just hadn't wanted their people to slack off. Come to think of it, Romeria had seemed a little more cheery than she usually was when she was giving out her missions. Nel frowned. She should have figured. Why else would it be somewhere that no one other than they had visited? She was just glad it hadn't been in Mosel. She had more than enough of the place already.
The woman almost jumped when Sophia reentered, handing her a stack of towels, a bathrobe, and something that looked like pajamas. Nel blinked a few times, allowing Sophia to show her to the shower and how to work the machinery. It was nothing like how it was in Elicoor. Now she was starting to understand how Fayt had felt when he had first gotten to Elicoor. It was so technologically underdeveloped.
After what seemed like ages of getting prepared, she finally plopped down on her bed, staring up toward the ceiling. Maybe if she fell asleep before the man appeared, she would be able to get some sleep. She could hear the faint sound of rushing water and decided that someone else must be getting ready for sleep as well. Whoever it was was taking a LONG time in the shower. Must be a girl. She shook her head. Or Albel.
If that was the case, she'd need to sleep soon. Stifling a yawn, she crawled under the covers, putting her head down on the pillow. Since she had Earthling clothes, she was going to make sure she had a chance to look around this city before she had to go back to Elicoor, that was for sure.
Nel woke as soon as she heard the door open, and with a lazy glance she noted that Albel was taking a seat on the opposite bed. His expression turned into irritation, and she smiled to herself, knowing it was the frilly pink that was getting to him. Obviously, this room was set up for girls.
"You don't like it?" she commented quietly, unable to hide the mirth in her voice. "I think it's cute."
"Bah." he muttered.
He was looking down toward the annoying covers, and finally ended up flinging them off. "So you'd rather freeze than stay in pink sheets. Hm. I'll keep that in mind."
"Shut up, wench."
She shook her head. "You shouldn't do that. You might catch a cold." she surprised herself with the sincerity of the comment, and she hid her face, frowning. Just because he wasn't nice to her didn't mean that she wanted him to get ill. He seemed to consider this, then scoffed.
"I don't get sick, maggot."
"Is that so. Don't come crying to me when you catch a cold then. I warned you."
"Bah."
Nel allowed for him to lay without the covers for some time, but when she heard the heating device flicker off for the night, she grumbled and sat up, going to retrieve the sheets that he had stubbornly thrown off. When she threw one back onto him, he grunted. She stopped him from pushing them aside again. "Albel Nox." she stated, her voice crisp. "Just keep them on you, alright? If you're so intent on not having pink, I'll ask one of the others for some other color of your preference." In the darkened room, she only caught a slight bit of his expression. The glint of his eyes seemed somewhat dangerous and she kept herself on guard.
"Do what you want, wench."
She saw him roll over, purposely away from her. Annoyed, she simply threw the remaining sheet back at him, going back to her bed. "I don't mind if you freeze to death." she stated, her voice not as strong as her words.
---
Albel glowered toward the covers, tempted to pitch them across the room in lieu of what he had done before. He resisted the urge to do that and also to rip out these...frilly laces at the top and settled with looking utterly irritated. Ah, he wasn't that cold...
Okay, so it was getting cold. He would just have to request something different the next day. Unless that Esteed scum wanted her sheets to be massacred of course.
Stupid pink.
Stupid frills that tickled his nose.
Stupid wench that was trying to sleep across from him.
He felt a need to say something about the previous night at Peterny, but he wasn't exactly sure what.
"Worm."
No response. Was she asleep?
"Scum."
Ditto.
Taking a deep, irritated breath, he spoke again. "Nel?"
"Yes?"
She had been waiting for that. He scowled to himself, then continued. "About yesterday....."
He paused, his mind blanking. About yesterday...what? She seemed not like she was planning on giving him anything to go off of, either. He stayed silent for some time before she finally spoke up. "Don't worry about it, Nox. I'm not planning on letting you hurt my feelings more than you already have." her voice was as crisp as her words, and he instinctively winced, glad it was too dark for her to see. "I don't even know why I brought it up. The year ago was just whim anyway. I'm sure you've had your share of women--"
"Ah, nevermind. Go to sleep, worm." he cut her off, feeling a faint feeling of disgust well up in himself. Of course he hadn't been with any other woman-- how could he when the only one he could think of was--
"..............."
He heard her shift, sitting up apparently. Her response was clear.
"No."
No? He scowled. Fine. She could stay awake for all he cared. It wasn't that their supposed mission would involve them needing high amounts of guard anyway, if it was just a get-together with the maggots from before. He wished that he hadn't been assigned onto the mission. It was all that stupid Fitter oaf's fault that they had to gather anyway.
Well, Nel could stay up all she wanted, but he was tired. He wasn't about to let her keep him up more. Or so he thought, until he saw her walk over to the window. Faint glow of moonlight touched her form, and she was wearing the pajamas that Sophia had given her. He could tell they were made of thin material as they blossomed toward the edges every time she moved. She put one hand to the window, her face turned away from him. Her hair was slightly messy, and as if she had noticed, she ran her hand through it, adjusting a few tangles along the way. "You're going to get sick." he commented. It was cold enough for him, and he was used to Airyglyph's winters and he was also under one of the blasted pink sheets.
"Mm." was her only response. Apparently, she was looking toward the moon, and he could faintly see her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were raised, dull and almost wistful. What the heck was the maggot thinking? Surely she wasn't trying to get sick on purpose. She could have dragged one of the stupid sheets with her. Or worn her bathrobe that was sprawled on the chair nearby. The woman shivered a bit, but instead of going to grab her coat, she tugged open the window instead. A blast of cold air entered and the papers from the desk scattered, falling all over the floor. Nel glanced toward them, finally wrapping her arms around herself and frowning. Albel cared little about these fallen papers, but knowing that if they left a mess in the morning it would cause havoc for the Esteed wench.
With a resigned sigh, he got off of the bed. "Shut the window, maggot."
She did so, slowly, her gaze casted downward toward the fallen papers. She began to pick them up, her movements agonizingly slow. He watched her quietly for some time, then frowned, grabbing the bathrobe from the chair. When she leaned down, he moved behind her, wrapping the article around her form. She immediately tensed, spinning around to face him.
"If you catch a cold we'll be stuck here longer than if you didn't." he stated, moving forward to adjust the robe in front. He looked down toward the papers. "....I'll take care of this."
Nel shook her head. "It was my fault. You can get some sleep. I'm not tired anyway."
A lie. He could sense exhaustion in her form without having to go near her. Not only was she exhausted but she was freezing. And she was stubborn as all heck. Albel watched as she moved aside, picking up the bulk of the papers on her own as he shifted to help. When she was done, she looked toward him, an accusing expression crossing her face.
"What do you want, Nox? You wouldn't help just because you're a gentleman."
Was that a sneer he caught on her face?
"Obviously because you're definitely not one."
Bah. See if he thought to help her do anything again. He folded his arms, taking a seat back on his bed. "Don't freeze yourself to death, worm." he stated.
This set her off, to his faint surprise. "Since when do you care what happens to me, Albel?! It's only because it's a mission, isn't it? If we weren't assigned this same..'mission'.. then you would have had no problems at all leaving me out in the cold. You would have left me poisoned too, no doubt!" she shook her head. "I'm done. Here. If you want to make me leave, then I will!"
Albel blinked a few times. Him? Make her leave? Didn't it seem like she was doing that exact thing to him? He cursed himself for not making things clear the day before. It would be harder now. He had been faced with a choice last time-- now or never. Although then he had chosen never, he was debating on if it was alright to choose now.
"You're not going anywhere, wench." he stated, his voice not coming across as harsh as he had intended. He paused, narrowing his eyes for full effect. "We stayed together a year ago because you didn't want the others to get suspicious about how we were getting along. It's the same as back then. .....the...maggot, Fayt, would get worried if we weren't 'getting along.'"
Ugh. That was enough speaking formally for him, he had to admit. He stumbled toward the end. Nel didn't seem too impressed. "And so you're trying to compare now with a year ago? If you don't recall..a year ago we were in love. An odd sort of..love.. but you let me know. Now, things aren't the same. We're back to being like strangers, Albel."
"Strangers!" he exclaimed. Bah! How foolish. He supposed the wench had no other way of putting it.
"If we're not, then what are we? Comrades? Friends? You sure don't act it, Nox!"
Maybe now was not a good choice. Albel could still back down if he wanted to. And wanted to, he most definitely did. Instead, he growled. "What do you expect, wench? You know me. I'm not able to show emotion like you maggots can."
What he wanted to say was that he was still human, though, and it wasn't that he didn't feel. He just couldn't convey. The words wouldn't come out, and he ran his hand down the Crimson Scourge for some reassurance. He had still kept the sword as Nel had kept her father's daggers.
If she had responded, he didn't hear her. Instead, she wandered to her bed, slumping down as she had in Peterny. Slowly, she spoke again. "I don't enjoy fighting with you, Albel," she stated, "But I guess it's the only way you communicate now. What happened in that year that we were apart..?"
It was a rhetorical question. He knew she wasn't expecting a response, and he was not going to respond. Images of the year before spun in his mind, mixed in with his duel with Romero and a few others as the year went on. Yes, the year had given him plenty of other obstacles to face, and he had dismissed any thought of romance months ago. Though the thought had been rekindled more than a few times when the mention of the woman's name had been brought up, he had assumed it was just a faraway fantasy. Once he had had the chance to possibly obtain it, he had been unable to speak up. And now he was unable to fix his error. Nel was desperately trying to pull any emotional attachment away from the man, and she seemed to be doing a good job of it. He was simply at a loss.
Albel finally spoke, his gaze lowered. "A year is a long time." He saw her form tense, but before she could speak up again, he continued. "That doesn't mean it was long enough to make me forget you, woman."
Nel's gaze shot up toward his, and what he could see of her expression was confusion. "..what?"
He was quiet for a long time, trying to think of what to say. His mind drew a blank. "...it's just hard for me to say how I feel, that's all."
It was her turn to be quiet. If she hadn't stayed sitting upright, he would have considered her asleep. "..Albel." she finally commented. "I can't read your mind."
"I know that, wench!" he put his hand to his forehead. Quieter, this time. "I know..."
He didn't even know if he could read his own mind at the moment. Again, he was at a loss. He wondered how the other men of the group would have handled it, then sighed. Anything that Cliff would have done would instantly meant death in the face of any woman (especially a certain other Klausian) and anything Fayt would say was nothing that Albel would be caught mimicking if his life depended on it. He had too much pride for that. More than likely the others had a better chance at seizing their chances when they had them though.
The man stood quietly, somewhat relieved when the woman didn't move aside when he took a seat beside her. The various nights in Peterny played in his mind and he shrugged them off. He considered bringing her to his form, then shook that aside as well. Since when did Albel Nox crave so much intimacy anyway?
Nel simply kept her eyes on his form, her straight gaze almost unnerving. She suddenly shivered, and he recalled the chill in the room. Right as soon as he did, he felt the cold settle in himself as well and he glanced toward the...pink...frilly...sheets. (Couldn't the scum have better taste?! Argh!) With a sigh, he leaned over to pull one up, wrapping it around the woman. She made no move to stop him, nor made any move to help him either. He moved aside to check his handiwork, then folded his arms. "If you're not going to sleep, at least keep yourself warm."
"You're not cold yourself?" she asked, sounding slightly humored. He scoffed.
"I'm used to it." he stated plainly.
Actually, he was freezing. But stubbornness overrides cold. He was used to Airyglyph cold, but this cold wasn't such like it. It wasn't snowing though, so he decided that it was most definitely a queer planet that they had gotten themselves into. Nel was adjusting the sheet around herself, wrapping it and lowering her gaze. They sat quietly for some time as he wondered what to say.