Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Strong and Stubborn (1x1)

The lady walked over and took her hand. "Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Maria, Sair's foster mother. " A man walked in from the other room, wearing a suit and looking very...businesslike. "Sair! You've been gone for two nights! Where have you been?" He stopped, looking at Ariadne. "I wasn't aware we had company. Hello, miss. I'm Donald, Sair's foster father."

Sair was scowling, practically emanating animosity. "I've been out. Is that a crime? I'm a grown man, I don't have to come home every night." He took Ariadne's hand, brushing past his parents and heading up the stairs. "I'm showing Ariadne to her room." Donald blinked. "What? She's staying here? Sair, that is completely inappropriate!"

Sair's response: "I don't give a rats ass."

Ariadne shook Maria's hand gently, and gave a small wave to Donald. So far they seemed like very pleasant people, though she did find it odd that they gave him grief over being away for a couple of nights, when Sair was clearly old enough to look after himself...or perhaps he wasn't? Had she been stowing away a run away kid? He looked her age, but perhaps he was younger..

She went beet red at Donald's comment about propriety. What would he say, she wondered, if he'd known Sair had been at her house the last two nights. At least here, there were others.

She almost laughed out loud at his response, and allowed herself to be dragged off.

Sair showed her to the guest bedroom, something quite fancy and comfortable. "Here, you'll stay here for tonight. Just ignore my foster parents. Especially my dad. You can do whatever you want in here. Feel free to explore the house." He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"And for the next half hour, ignore the yelling. I gotta talk to them." He walked over to the door and left the room.

Ariadne thought the room was incredible. When he left her, to go and talk with his 'parents' she immediately flopped herself down on the bed. Well, at the very east she would be comfortable, while murderous gang members scoured the city for her.

She wondered why Sair and his 'parents' were arguing. What it was about...wondered if her curiosity was enough to make her eavesdrop.

After a few minutes, she'd be able to hear parts of their 'talk'. A few choice words that were shouted. Many of them, said by both Sair and his 'father', were very unsuitable to speak of in the company of the delicate woman that was his foster mother. It didn't seem like he and his foster father got along very well. There was something shouted about rules, formalities, and what was 'proper'. And of course, Sair responded with some curse or other. It did not sound like a very good argument was going on.

Ariadne listened from her just outside her door. As halfway through, her curiosity had been fully piqued. She wondered why his 'father' was so angry at Sair.

The conversation grew easier to listen in on as they moved towards the bottom of the steps, Sair trying (unsuccessfully) to get away from the argument. "Listen, you ungrateful little prick! You would have NOTHING if it wasn't for us! You'd be out on the streets, with no home and no money and no family!" Donald said. Sair rolled his eyes and scowled. "And being here is any better?! I could do just fine on my own!" "You ungrateful child! If your father wasn't paying us to take care of you, we'd have kicked you out onto the streets years ago! Your own father doesn't want you, what makes you think we do?! Our lives would be perfect if you weren't in them! I've seen the news, don't think I don't know about you and your little gang obsession! You'll get someone killed one of these days, and that blood is going to be all on you! But you won't care, will you? You don't care about anyone but yourself, you selfish punk."

Sair had enough. He swung a fist, knocking his foster father back a couple steps. "I'd rather be a selfish punk than a conceited bastard!" He turned and rushed up the stairs, taking them two at a time. His mother fretted and fussed, but never defended either of them. Sair stopped at the top of the steps, spotting Ariadne outside of her room. He looked at her for a moment, then just went into his own room and slammed the door.

Ariadne couldn't believe what she was hearing, in her mind, what his 'parents' had said was a form of abuse. She now understood why Sair had taken to escaping to her house, never again would she complain about it.

As she passed the top of the staircase, on her way to his room after him, she couldn't help but lean over the rail.

"Shame on you." She chided. Leaving it at that, she went to his door and knocked.

The two adults stared up in shock as they were scolded like little children. The knock to his door earned a shout. "If it's closed, it means stay the hell away!" Well, after an argument like that, who wouldn't want to be alone?

Ariadne would have gone to sit with him. Perhaps it was the difference between them, she wouldn't have wanted to be alone after a fight like that. She took solace in those around her. Perhaps that was why she did what she did, helping others. Maybe she did it to escape her own demons.

There would be time for introspection later. She wouldn't force her presence on him, if he didn't want it. She let out a long sigh.

"Fine."

It was perhaps just a couple moments after her response that there was a crash in his room. A sigh came from downstairs. "Oh dear," his mother said, "he's gone and broken something again.." But yet she was so passive, making no move to go up and see what was the matter.

Ariadne, despite his 'parent's' indifference, was concerned. She went and knocked on the door again.

"Are you okay?"

Sair threw the door open and walked past her, into the bathroom. He sat down on the toilet after closing the lid and grabbed some tweezers, starting to pick out shards of glass from his bleeding hand. If she were to glance into the room, she'd find his mirror broken. He didn't say a single thing, just silently worked at getting all the pieces out of his hand so he could wash it.

Though Ariadne's inner paramedic was screaming at her to go, and make sure his hand was alright, she suspected that it may be unwise to approach him when he was in this state. She instead ventured into his room, to clean up the pieces of broken glass.

Sair finished getting the pieces out of his hand and held it under the running faucet for a while, then he dried it and bandaged it. He sighed. Great. He kind of needed that hand to bust up the goons from the gang. He shook his head a little and walked back to his room, pausing as he saw Ariadne in there. "..what are you doing?"

She'd gathered up most of the glass by now, and was picking small pieces out of the rug. She looked up from what she was doing.

"Cleaning up your mess... is your hand alright?" She eyed the bandage judgingly, but was surprised that he'd wrapped it very well. Said something about him...said he'd had to bandage himself a few times.

Sair glanced at his hand, then nodded and went to sit down on the edge of his bed. "Yeah. I've had worse, remember?" He watched her for a moment, then sighed. "..thanks." He rubbed his arm and looked away. It was so weird for him to say that word. It was something that was used very, very rarely.

Ariadne was surprised by it, and did something of a double take. She finished up what she was doing, and deposited the glass shards in the nearest garbage can. She took a position leaning against the wall across from him.

"You're parents are real douches"

Sair gave a dry chuckle. "Yeah. They are." He leaned back, falling onto his back on the bed and staring up at his ceiling. He sighed. "That's exactly why I didn't want to come home. It always happens. The moment I step in that door..." He frowned. "There was only a delay because you were around. They had to seem 'proper' and shit. But when you were gone, gloves came off. It's just like them to hide behind a pretty little mask. I just wish I could break it in half and expose them to the whole world for the monsters they are."

Ariadne would have liked that for him as well, she was in fact, itching to give them a piece of her mind for just what she'd heard.

"If you don't want to stay here...we could go somewhere else.." She had no idea where, but anywhere was better then here. She never seen Sair so low. It wasn't his usual, semi-crazy vibe she was getting now.