“An awesomely brave one?” she snapped back with a single arm lifted into a shrug. “I was just too cute, and you couldn’t bear to let me freeze to death.”
Ingram ignored them and looked up at Emerie, finding she was watching the family of Mavka and their Phantom female interact. His skull jerked at her crinkled expression, unsure as to why he thought there was a small hint of… hurt in it.
Is it because I have not pulled her into my lap as well?
Yet, when he tried to do so, reaching out to her thighs, she resisted. Instead, she sat on the ground with her back against the inside of his knee. Even though it was exactly how they’d sat in the grassy meadow on top of a hill, it felt… detached in comparison to the couple beside him.
Her lips were flat and hard, while she had her hands on her upright, bent knees. When he called her name, she didn’t respond.
“Emerie?” he repeated, grabbing her thick braid to slip it through his palm.
“Hm?” she replied, lifting her freckled and scarred face to him. She gave him a smile, but he instantly knew it was fake. “Have fun with your brother?”
No. His conversations with Faunus were as confusing as they were enlightening.
But he did wonder why she’d used the word brother to reference the feline Mavka. She’d been saying it a lot, as if she wanted him to understand this bond deeper, when it only drew a blankness in his mind. That blankness was growing smaller the more he was around them, but it would take time for his mind to piece together something so obviously complex.
“You are very good with a wooden sword,” Ingram complimented, hoping to distract her – especially since she seemed to squirm every time he did.
He very much liked it when she did.
“Pfft.” Emerie rolled her eyes. “She kicked my arse every single time. I’m going to end up with so many bruises, and she’ll barely have one.”
“You got me really good on the arm though,” Mayumi mused. “You’re better than Reia, and that girl can give me a run for my money some days.” She tilted her head back to shine a grin at Emerie. “Difference is, she has absolutely no concept of fear. I could tell you were worried about hurting me the entire time. Reia would still size me up as a challenge and try to best me.”
“Which is why you aren’t allowed to train with her anymore until this one is out,” Faunus said with the lightest growl, palming her stomach.
Mayumi just rolled her brown eyes before giving Emerie a wink. Emerie smiled, until Mayumi lifted her head to face Faunus, then it instantly died. Her features turned dark, dreary.
Is something wrong with her?
She didn’t seem truly harmed, but it was like she was in… pain.
She even cringed when Mayumi lifted one of her younglings into the air with both hands while giggling. She then snuggled her nose against theirs, and their pliable claws bent backwards as they happily grabbed at her cheeks.
Since her face had gone pale, Ingram drew the glossy curve of his claw against Emerie’s cheek. “Is something wrong?”
“Huh?” she rasped, directing her face to his swiftly like he’d snapped her out of her thoughts. “Oh, nothing. I think I’m just hungry.” Then she gave a light laugh. “Training can do that to a person. I used to eat like a horse after training sessions at the guild.”
Why did he feel like that was a… lie? Or, at least, a half-truth.
Emerie was trying her absolute hardest to remain all smiles and light-hearted… she really was. Or, at least, tried to hide her internal struggles as best she could from everyone.
That seemed fucking impossible with the Duskwalker that rarely took his orbs off her. He was getting worse about it too, like he could tell something was off about her. She wondered how much longer she could brush him off without imploding.
With the way she was feeling, she knew she was a hair trigger away from exploding the next time he softly and quietly asked if she was okay.
I don’t want to tell him why I’m upset. It was no one’s fault but her own, even though it was the situation that was causing it. Gosh, I feel so damn petty.
And the longer she sat in the home of this charming little family, the more a hook sunk deeper and deeper into her chest. Would it rip her open, or wait to rise to the surface?
She felt like she and Ingram were imposing on Mayumi and Faunus in their home, but they had nowhere else to go other than the tent they’d been loaned. However, Mayumi was offering to cook Emerie dinner, and she hadn’t wanted to deny her hospitality and come across as rude.
Emerie had spent almost every moment with Mayumi today. Yes, part of it was to avoid Ingram, since he seemed content next to Faunus, following him around wherever he went because he wouldn’t come near Mayumi if he didn’t have to. Another was because the woman just seemed happy to have a fellow Demonslayer around.
They’d spoken about their different lives in their sectors, reminisced on stories that were similar. Mayumi had spoken of her father and how she’d joined the guild to follow in his footsteps.
Emerie had eventually found it hard to share after that.
They had walked down the same kind of path, but one fateful decision meant they were worlds apart. Would always be worlds apart. Emerie had somewhat regretted her choice for the longest time, but this was the first instance it threatened to suffocate her.
Even if they hadn’t spoken about it, Emerie was sure Mayumi was aware of it.
The woman seemed too calculating and had an awfully keen eye. There were times Mayumi’s features would tighten, and she’d go silent, or redirect the conversation or what was happening in an attempt to help.
It didn’t.
Not when Emerie gave her a reassuring and appreciative smile, thankful she wasn’t airing out the problem.
It didn’t stop Ingram, though.
Whenever he wasn’t facing Emerie expectantly, he was staring at one of the baby Duskwalkers with his head tilting and twitching. If his tail was around her wrist or ankle, it’d curl tighter. That, or she’d feel him tense. He would also do it whenever the other couple were sweet to each other, and his orbs would change to a bright green.
He was jealous.
No matter what he wanted, he’d never get what they had from Emerie. If he tried to push it on her, she knew she would break and that wasn’t fair on him. Her past choices shouldn’t impact him, or his life, and it just made her acutely aware that she needed to draw a line in the sand between them.
No, not just a line, an entire field.
It’d been less than two days since they’d arrived in the Veil, and already she was antsy about going after the Demon King and ending all this. Either she would die, or they would be successful, and she’d ask to be dropped off at the nearest village or town.
They were her plans… even if it wasn’t what her heart was telling her she wanted.
Ingram tightened his tail on her again, and she looked up from the table towards Mayumi in the kitchen. Her pulse raced with urgency. When will dinner be ready?
The quicker it was over, the quicker she could go hide.
If she fell asleep before Ingram could even enter the tent, maybe she could avoid him touching her intimately. She wouldn’t deny him the comfort he sought by lying down next to her to relieve the wallowing loneliness that obviously ate him up inside. It was also why she hadn’t kicked his tail away when she desperately wanted to for her own self-preservation. And because she secretly knew, deep down inside, she pathetically craved it too.