The door hissed and opened, revealing the insides of the room. It was a fine-looking apartment, nothing out of the ordinary. Fitting, Taranza thought to himself. Though, something in the apartment caught his attention. That something was the window perfectly placed facing directly in front of the bed.
A sort of picturesque scene could be seen from outside that same window. The night sky glittered with stars, the ground below littered with houses of the like, the dreamstalk in the distance; such a scene was nothing short of beautiful, he thought. Taranza wished he had brought his camera to capture it; if no one was going to admire such beauty, he will.
Taranza always had an eye for beauty. Flowers, antiques, nature, all of that sort; He loved all things beautiful. Everything had at least some sort of beauty and it was some sort of habit of his to find it. If no one was going to admire such beauty, he will. After all, what is the use of beauty if it were not to be admired? Beauty reminded him of the good in the world, it reminded him of her… A decaying beauty, he had never seen one like it. She was destined to die ever since she lay gaze on that accursed mirror. To acknowledge the fact that it was him that put out the light. It hurt knowing that.
"Ranza? Hello?" a feminine voice called out.
He turned back towards the source of the voice. Susie was sitting on the bed with a look of worry, shuffling in her seat every so often. Rightfully so, as Taranza had stood there for quite some time. He can't break down now, not in front of her, Taranza repeated in the back of his mind.
"Just admiring the view, that's all." He took a seat on her bed, the opposite side of where Susie was sitting.
Silence fills the room. It pricks and prods the both of them, instilling a sense of awkwardness.
He twiddled his thumbs trying to come up with a conversation starter, without result of course. Come on Taranza, you've done small talk with diplomats before. A simple 'How's it been?'. You can do this. Taking a deep breath, he sighed; resolving himself to finally start the conversation.
"How's—" Susie had gotten himself up from the bed, effectively interrupting Taranza.
She got herself up and walked towards the kitchen. Her hands grabbing cups and pots, preparing to brew something. "Chamomile or peppermint?" Susie asked with a toneless voice.
"P-Peppermint, please."
"Too bad, you get coffee. Take it or leave it," she stated jokingly. A cup of coffee on the nightstand was placed next to Taranza's side of the bed.
He examined what appeared to be milk coffee. It tasted fine, albeit a bit too sweet for his taste. Taranza turned towards Susie to see her enjoying her coffee, as shown by her serene smile(Taranza can only assume since she had no mouth) and… milk coffee moustache.
A quiet chuckle let out of his mouth. That chuckle turned into not so quiet laughter. Taranza laughed at what appeared to be Susie's confusion. Was there something funny to be found about her? Was it the way she acted? Was it her face? Her hands checked her face for any abnormalities to find… milk coffee. Susie's moonlit face turned bright red in a matter of seconds. "IT'S NOT THAT FUNNY," she screamed repeatedly at Taranza, who only laughed harder in response. Wiping the milk coffee off her blushing face, Susie slowly calmed down as the last of Taranza's laughter left his mouth.
It was silent again, not for long though as Susie's mouth opened to speak.
"So?"
"So?" his face turned into one of confusion, "What do you mean by that?"
"How do we… you know, hang out?" she hesitantly mumbled, her face again turning a bright shade of red.
Taranza was surprised, to say the least. The all-business and cold Susie he knew was having trouble setting up a friendly hang out? He felt comfort in knowing that the Susie next to him was a normal person.
Regarding hang outs though, Taranza didn't really spend time together with a lot of people. Suggestions such as talking or playing together come to mind. It wasn't any different to what he did with Sectonia back then, anyways.
"I mean, we could always try playing a game together," he suggested
"A game? Like UNO or something?" she said with an unexpectedly enthusiastic tone. Her enthusiasm slightly rubbing Taranza the wrong way, thinking that she sees it as some sort of test or experiment. Nonetheless, Susie left the bed and brought back a pack of UNO cards.
"There we go, now we can finally start hanging out."
"I… didn't mean that. It was just a suggestion,"
"And that was a suggestion I took. Now pick up seven cards."