Give and forgive
Lilac sleepily opens her eyes halfway, and glance at her surroundings. Where is she? Why isn't at her apartment? Wait… she slept over at the fox's last night. So… why isn't she on the sofa? The memories come rushing back to her in an instant. Warren. Fire. Magic. Danger. Jane… doesn’t know? Worry. Is Warren hurt? Why was he freaking out? She sits up, wide eyed—disturbing the fox sleeping on top of her. Warren flails, sitting up just as fast as Lilac did, and looks at her for a moment before realizing what happened. Lilac watched in worry and amusement as his entire face slowly turns a dark red, blushing uncontrollably. And to think she thought this guy was anything but adorable when she saw him at the bar.“What… we? Huh?” Warren flicks his eyes around the room, and his thoughts finally occur to her. She can feel her face redden.
'What? What the heck, Warren? No!' She lets out a nervous laugh. His eyes meet hers, and suddenly they're both on the floor laughing. Lilac's nerves made it hard to start laughing at first, but now she can’t stop. She's out of breath by the time the two of them calm down. She glances at the clock on Warren’s bedside table—4:30 am. She didn’t really sleep at all. Warren rubs the back of his head, a red tint still flushing his cheeks.
'So…' Lilac signs. She sees him stiffen. He doesn’t want to talk about it. Instead, she offers something else. 'You like brownies?'
It takes Jane until 8:00 to wake up. That’s three and a half hours of awkward chit-chat between Lilac and Warren. Warren is amazing. Strong and capable. He just has… gone through so much. Lilac wants to help, but she's not sure how. He thinks she hates him. That she's scared of him. She doesn't want him to think that, even though it might be a little bit true. As Jane wanders into the kitchen to make breakfast, Warren stands up to follow her. Lilac lurchs to her feet and puts a hand on his shoulder, hesitating a second before giving him a hug.
'I don’t hate you' she signs breaking the hug.
"You’re scared of me" he whispers back, his arms still at his side. “You said so.”
'I won’t be. Not anymore.' He’s looking anywhere but her, and she watches him sadly for a moment as he continues to shuffle into the kitchen. Lilac was worried about him being hurt from the bat, but she guesses she should have been worried about the pain inside.
A few hours later, Warren watches Lilac put on her roller skates to leave. He waves to her from the front door with Jane, and then skates off. Warren goes inside and sits on the couch, staring at the TV and trying to listen to the blaring music… but all he can think about is her. I messed up, he thinks to himself, clenching his fists. She’s… she’s not going to come back. Not after that. No one would.
Lilac collapses on the sofa in her apartment, sighing. Taking a moment to look around, she can see that she really needs to unpack and start decorating. It feels like the place is still for sale. Unzipping one of the duffle bags, she pulls out some blankets and pillows. Throwing them on the sofa, she continues to empty the various packages that she brought with her. Turning on a song on her phone, she taps her foot in the rhythm as she surveys the various things she's brought with her. There’s no real furniture, but there are enough knickknacks and posters to make this place feel like home. She'll go out in an hour and buy some furniture, then. There’ve got to be some smaller, cheaper stores. Like yard sales, or something. Are there yard sales in the city? Grabbing some of the paper advertisements for concerts, she heads towards the bedroom with her music and some tape. She will decorate this apartment, even if it kills her…it won’t, right?
Warren's phone lights up, emitting a soft buzz. Confused, he pulls it towards him. He hasn’t given his number to anyone whos not at work right now. He doesn’t have a job. Not yet. He’ll get one eventually. Typing in his password, he sees he has a new text. it’s from Lilac, he thinks excitedly.
L: Hey
L: I decorated my apartmentttt
L: wanna see?
Warren tries to recall what her apartment looked like when he woke up there. It was empty, with bare walls and no furniture besides a couch, and some cooking utensils laid out on the kitchen counter.
W: sure
W: i’ll be right over k?
L: Want me to head over there to pick you up? ;)
W: nah i know a quick way there
L: k when can i expect you over?
Warren closes his eyes in concentration, seeing a flash of green. When he opens his eyes, the world is spinning, but he can see a door.
W: right now
He raises his fist to the door and gives a knock.
What the hell? Lilac thinks, looking at her phone. There’s no way he’d get here so quickly. She hears a knock at the door, and she slowly walks over to it, weaving through the newly-bought but probably-really-cheap-and-old furniture she just got. She opens the door to see Warren leaning against the wall, giving her a sneaky grin. She stares at him for a second before closing the door.
Uh… Warren thinks to himself, eyes widening as she shuts the door, a grin on her face.
"Wasn’t expecting that, honestly,” Warren calls out, tugging on the door handle.
'I’m not letting you in until you tell me how you got here so fast!' Says the note Lilac sides under the door. Warren hears her laughing from behind the door. Warren snaps his fingers, teleporting inside her apartment. It takes him a minute to get over the nausea, but when he does, he creeps quietly up behind her, trying not to look at his surroundings so he doesn’t spoil the furniture reveal for himself. Warren taps her on the shoulder.
“AHH!” She laughs, falling backwards on to the door. 'How the hell’d you do that?!' Warren smirks, snapping his fingers again so he stands outside of the door. Swallowing down the spinning feeling, he gestures widely with his hands.
“Can i come in now?” She giggles, opening the door fully. Warren steps inside, eyes wide.
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