Camulus and Phoebe in The Evening
Continued from here.
The intimate gesture surprised him slightly, but he wrote it off as his emotional First Prime's joy at seeing him again. "I've missed you too, ghraidh," he said, falling naturally back onto the endearment. "I'm sorry I had to leave."
He slid his hand to the back of her head, probing gently for bumps or bruises. He could fix anything that needed it, he knew.
Phoebe winced slightly when his hand came in contact with a rather large bump on the back of her head. She was as still as she could be while he checked her out, and smiled at him the entire time.
"As am I, astor, but we're together again so none of that matters any longer."
None of that . . . hmm. Phoebe didn't seem too concerned over the fate of her pet demon and he wondered if somewhere in those missing years he had been dropped by the wayside.
"Very true," he allowed, letting her out of the embrace with his inspection complete, stepping back a pace and informing her with a flash of humour in his eyes, "I think you'll live."
Phoebe gave him a saucy grin. "Well, of course I will, or else I wouldn't be here with you, now." She ran searching eyes over him. "Is this where you have been the last couple of months since you left? Are you well?"
Saucy grins? Oh well, Camulus may as well roll with it . . .
"Since I left, yes. It's been longer than a couple of months for me, though - and it looks like longer than that for you, as well."
Phoebe tilted her head at him in confusion. "Sweetheart, I only saw you a couple of months ago."
"'Sweetheart'?" Camulus couldn't hide his surprise at the endearment. "You were seventeen last time I saw you, Phoebe. And you are most definitely not seventeen now." This was accompanied by the appreciative look he actually felt rather guilty for.
That would be more confusion in her eyes.
"Camulus... I'm 24. We celebrated my birthday shortly before you... before we lost contact." She worried her lip. "Are you positive that you are well and that you did not get hit in the head?"
However, she did note the appreciative look.
Camulus reached out, automatically and instinctively wanted to soothe away that confusion, and cupped her cheek again. "I have never felt better. You, on the other hand, have goose egg on the back of your head the size of Orlin's ego. Come, let's get you to the hotel and lie down."
Phoebe nodded slowly, then leaned into his touch. "But you are happy to see me, correct?"
"Of course I'm happy to see you, ghraidh." His thumb stroked fondly over her cheek, but the look in his eyes was that of the fond mentor.
Phoebe was starting to feel a little more lost as she looked into his eyes. Her forehead wrinkled in concern. "You... you don't remember anything about the last couple of years, do you?"
"I remember the last couple of years perfectly. They seem to differ from yours." Camulus was beginning to grow concerned. But hadn't Brachi said something about his blond officer having not have lived the last two years of Brachi's life yet? Maybe he did have a future outside of the village. A future that apparently included the witch who had been his best student, then his assistant, and then his defacto First Prime.
Phoebe looked very sad at that. "Oh," she said softly. "Camulus... what is the last thing about the two of us that you remember?"
She wasn't sure she wanted to hear his answer, but part of her needed to.
"We were preparing the final exams for my classes," Camulus said slowly, thinking about those last few days in his teaching profession. "Ba'al came that night and I left."
Phoebe looked stricken. "That's... that's all you remember?"
"There's more to remember?"
Phoebe felt herself sway slightly and she grabbed onto the nearest thing to keep her from falling.
"You and me... us..." She whispered, shaking her head and looking away for a moment so she could try to regain her composure. "You don't remember..."
Camulus caught her again as she swayed, lifting her with easy strength. "Forgive me?" he offered uncertainly, not sure exactly why he was apologizing.
"You really don't remember us being together," she asked quietly.
"I remember being your teacher and your . . . friend," Camulus told her quietly, the echo leaving his voice. He unconsciously held her even though the need for it was passed. "You were with someone else, your own age."
She shook her head, looking up into his face. "I haven't been with him for years. Things didn't work out and then... you and I..."
She was trying to puzzle all of this out.
A kind of hope was quickly strangled by guilt. Camulus never felt guilty over his conquests. What had come over him?
"Not yet," he said, feeling lost himself. "Not yet."
"So then... you don't even recall our first kiss?" Phoebe looked up into his eyes again, trying to understand what was happening.
"Most certainly not." He rather wished he could.
The rush of sadness that Phoebe felt move through her was so powerful that she had to avert her eyes in hopes that he wouldn't see it. She was feeling really rather confused. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and looked back up at him.
Later, she wouldn't be able to say what possessed her, but she stretched up to brush her lips gently against his.
Camulus thought he saw her expression changed and opened his mouth to summon up some kind of words of comfort when she kissed him. He stiffened in surprise but didn't draw away. Little Phoebe was not so little any more, and little Phoebe knew what she wanted.
Phoebe stepped back down after she kissed him and then smiled up at him. Yes, she knew what she wanted and she wasn't so little any longer. "Been wanting to do that."
"I can see that," he replied a bit vaguely, blinking a couple of times. He drew away from her again, his mind in turmoil over what to do with her. Well, it was clear that his first concern was to get her settled comfortably until that bump went down.
"I'm glad you're here, Camulus. I really have missed you. It's been hard."
Now what was this wave of guilt for? He didn't know what to say, other than to repeat the unfamiliar apologies and another "I missed you, too."
So he affixed a grumpy sort of scowl on his face and turned them towards the hotel. "Enough of that. Come on, let's find you your room."
Seeing the scowl, Phoebe grinned. "Yep, still using that same face with me when you're trying to get me to do something."
"I am nothing if not consistently irritated by you, ghraidh."
Phoebe let out a peal of happy laughter. "Uh huh, astor." She was grinning. "I keep you on your toes."
"You'll have some competition in that area now."
"You found someone who can irritate you as much as I can? I'll have to get back into practice then," she grinned and wrapped an arm around his waist.
Camulus hesitated a moment before putting his arm around her slim shoulders. Most definitely not seventeen. "Actually, I have. He's a constant annoyance and too damned good at it. I fear for my safety if the two of you were to compare notes."
Phoebe looked up at him. "You know I would never do anything to compromise your safety and I would hurt anyone else who did." Not seventeen, but still a witch with a temper when it came to looking out for those she cared about. "So what's he like? Handsome? Feminine? Scary?"
"I know, ghraidh." Camulus paused, mulling over the question slowly. "Scary is the only thing right there . . ."
Somewhere, a drum kicked in and electric guitar followed. "Met him at my own gym, hired him to train them. Waiting in the corner, he'd have them running laps. There was I expecting a really tasty bird, he said I was good looking and I'd never doubt his word. When you seem there he'd seem a real disgrace - I think, nice legs, shame about the face."
Phoebe was quiet as she looked up at him, listening to him singing.
Camulus had no idea why he was singing. It seemed to make sense. "I got into a fist fight, I really let him down. So I made it up with a night out on the town. Out of the gym and work hours, we weren't getting far, so we had a drink but it wasn't at a bar. He asked me what I thought of him, I put him in his place - I said, nice legs, shame about his face."
The mysterious background guitar went into a wail and gave the impression of a stage dive, and Camulus blinked. "Did I just . . ."
Phoebe nodded and looked at him. "Uhm... yeah, you really just did..." She tilted her head. "So what's his name?"
"Brachi Stildyne. Stildyne to most. He works as a trainer at the gym I've found myself owning." Absently, his thumb traced circles on her shoulder.
Phoebe nodded. "As long as he is nice to you for the most part and doesn't get snarky too much about me being around? Then I won't have to pick a fight with him." She was joking... maybe. However, there wasn't even a hint of jealousy in her voice. "Oh, you own a gym? That mean I can get back into my work outs and such?"
"I wouldn't say he's nice to me. But he's very, very good." Camulus couldn't help the smirk that snuck in there. The idea that Phoebe would be jealous hadn't crossed his mind; the idea of her sticking around even less so. But he realized now that Phoebe was here and given that she thought they were . . . well, more than they were, she would be around quite often. "He shares quite happily. I tire him out." He looked down at her. "I have been looking for someone to help with running the gym. Paperwork and the like."
Phoebe was wearing a matching smirk as she looked up at him. "Well, then as long as he doesn't mind sharing you with me, then I won't have to cast any spells on him, then." She nodded. "I'm good at that stuff, so you know I'll do whatever you need me to do, then." She raised an eyebrow. "There is a punching bag there, correct?"
Camulus could just imagine Stildyne's face at the news that he had to worry about hexes on top of shrink rays. "There is. Poor thing. Certain people keep showboating and breaking it." But there was something else . . . "Phoebe, ghraidh, I don't know what you're expecting from me . . . but to me, you're still my student. My young student."
Phoebe just gave him a look and her eyes were sparkling with a great deal of mischief. "I haven't been your student for quite awhile, Camulus," she pointed out. "Whether you remember that or not, to me it's clear. I'll try not to get in your way... but I am not a little girl any more." She grinned up at him. "I'm also a lot more stubborn and determined than that child you remember me as. Hells, I've been to hell and back."
"I don't doubt it," he told her with a small but genuine smile. He had known Phoebe to be strong and it had only increased his fondness for her. But now his feelings were being cast in a different light and he felt uncomfortable about the transition.
"Then if you want me to stay away from you, you had better tell me so right now, otherwise, I don't plan to." Yep, that was her own stubborness and her new determination about things talking. She was a long way from seventeen.
"Do you think I'd turn you away so soon after finding you again, ghraidh?" He wouldn't do that to either of them. "But we are different people than either of us remember."
She gave him a slow grin that could only mean trouble. "Exactly."
Camulus suppressed a groan. That was suppose to dissuade her. "What have I gotten myself into . . ."
"Nothing that you won't enjoy, I'm sure..."
Camulus almost asked if he had enjoyed it before but didn't know if he could handle that news or not. So he just laughed and shook his head slightly. "I suppose I should at some point welcome you to the village."
If he had asked, she would have told him that he had indeed enjoyed it very much before.
"Yes, you probably should," she said with a grin.
"You can't leave."
"Why not?"
"I don't know. People leave as they arrive - vanishing suddenly or fading away, but you cannot simply walk out. You'll find yourself back in the same spot you started from."
"So... the town kidnaps you then?" She looked confused again. "But then how did I get here? I should be dead, but instead, I'm here with you -- which I am very glad about. And, if I was brought here, does that mean the demons who tried to kill me will show up, too? Because I'm too fond of running into people who are trying to kill me. I'll need to get weapons from somewhere."
"I don't know how you got here. I walked in. I think it's different for most people - but I was on the run from Ba'al and I haven't seen him. You may be safe yet." The idea of his Phoebe having to arm herself didn't sit well with Camulus.
Phoebe looked up at him and was confused by the emotions she was picking up from him.
"I hope that they don't show up then. I'm out of practice with my knife, but if I get back into working out I can at least defend myself. I have no desire to wind up dead."
She shrugged. "I'll deal with that when the time comes."
"And I have no desire to see you that way. The gym has training equipment, and there's a dojo in the village that teaches swordwork, I believe." This was Camulus's 'protective growl' glower.
Yes, she had remembered that 'protective growl' glower. It was very familiar. "The gym should be fine to work out in. Training with a sworde? That I'll think about later."
Camulus gestured in front of them at the building that rose in the middle of town. "Another quirk is that blasted hotel. Our living quarters. All new arrivals have been booked in and find a room waiting. Occasionally a roommate as well. I have not been saddled with one yet. Some rooms are more comfortable than others." This said with a faint smirk as he thought of Stildyne's shameless attempts to steal Camulus's bed for the night.
"Dear gods. I hope that the hotel decides it likes me and gives me a nice room, then. A roommate would probably not like me very much anyway."
"Oh no? I've always found you to be a rather likeable person."
"That's because you appreciate the person I am and have never tried to change me or want me to become anything else but who I am."
That sounded entirely too much like one of those posters that featured kittens and tree limbs. Camulus was a bit suspicious and he glanced down at her. "And what would be the point in changing you? Too many things could go wrong and then I'd just have to start all over."
She grinned back up at him. "Many people have tried, but thank the gods you are way more practical than they are."
"Or perhaps even my ego isn't big enough to assume that it could change you." Was he . . . flirting? With Phoebe?
Phoebe smiled and then leaned up to kiss of his cheek. She had noticed the flirting.
"I'm really glad you like me the way I am."
Camulus bowed his head before looking away hurriedly, smothering his embarrassment. "Hmph."
Phoebe smiled and then shrugged. "Not everyone has that much common sense... like the time I was kidnapped and taken to hell and... well, you probably have no interest story, actually."
"No, I believe I wouldn't," Camulus sighed, rubbing his temple for a moment. "Although knowing you, it's probably happened more than once."
"Well, only the most recent kidnapping had them planning to cut pieces off of me and kill me that way," she said quietly. "I did manage to escape with minimal damage,"
"Ghraidh," Camulus said in a pained voice, "why do you tell me these things?"
"Because I don't ever want you to think that I am trying to hide things from you or lie to you?"
"A very noble effort but there's only so many strains to the system this body can take. It's not getting any younger."
Phoebe nodded. "Alright, then next time I get kidnapped and almost killed, I won't tell you or let you know." She thought this sounded like a good idea in her head.
"Alright! I surrender, I give up . . ."
It was only Phoebe's concern that kept her from saying 'Oh good, faster than I had hoped for, where is your room?'
Instead, she blinked up at him. "What? What's wrong?"
"I can't win. Either you tell me about this things and I worry, or you don't tell me and I still worry. It's . . . unpleasant." He glowered.
"I don't want you to worry, Camulus... you know that. You'd also get cranky if I saw something was going to happen and I didn't tell you and I disappeared, correct?"
"Exactly," Camulus sighed. He wrapped his arm around her again. "At least you can see it coming. Brachi vanished on me one day." He glowered again at the memory.
Phoebe leaned into him and then frowned. "Well, now that I'm here, there'll be no more of that. We'll make sure we know ahead of time before vanishings happen."
[[OOC: Played via e-mail with the lovely godinakilt]]
The intimate gesture surprised him slightly, but he wrote it off as his emotional First Prime's joy at seeing him again. "I've missed you too, ghraidh," he said, falling naturally back onto the endearment. "I'm sorry I had to leave."
He slid his hand to the back of her head, probing gently for bumps or bruises. He could fix anything that needed it, he knew.
Phoebe winced slightly when his hand came in contact with a rather large bump on the back of her head. She was as still as she could be while he checked her out, and smiled at him the entire time.
"As am I, astor, but we're together again so none of that matters any longer."
None of that . . . hmm. Phoebe didn't seem too concerned over the fate of her pet demon and he wondered if somewhere in those missing years he had been dropped by the wayside.
"Very true," he allowed, letting her out of the embrace with his inspection complete, stepping back a pace and informing her with a flash of humour in his eyes, "I think you'll live."
Phoebe gave him a saucy grin. "Well, of course I will, or else I wouldn't be here with you, now." She ran searching eyes over him. "Is this where you have been the last couple of months since you left? Are you well?"
Saucy grins? Oh well, Camulus may as well roll with it . . .
"Since I left, yes. It's been longer than a couple of months for me, though - and it looks like longer than that for you, as well."
Phoebe tilted her head at him in confusion. "Sweetheart, I only saw you a couple of months ago."
"'Sweetheart'?" Camulus couldn't hide his surprise at the endearment. "You were seventeen last time I saw you, Phoebe. And you are most definitely not seventeen now." This was accompanied by the appreciative look he actually felt rather guilty for.
That would be more confusion in her eyes.
"Camulus... I'm 24. We celebrated my birthday shortly before you... before we lost contact." She worried her lip. "Are you positive that you are well and that you did not get hit in the head?"
However, she did note the appreciative look.
Camulus reached out, automatically and instinctively wanted to soothe away that confusion, and cupped her cheek again. "I have never felt better. You, on the other hand, have goose egg on the back of your head the size of Orlin's ego. Come, let's get you to the hotel and lie down."
Phoebe nodded slowly, then leaned into his touch. "But you are happy to see me, correct?"
"Of course I'm happy to see you, ghraidh." His thumb stroked fondly over her cheek, but the look in his eyes was that of the fond mentor.
Phoebe was starting to feel a little more lost as she looked into his eyes. Her forehead wrinkled in concern. "You... you don't remember anything about the last couple of years, do you?"
"I remember the last couple of years perfectly. They seem to differ from yours." Camulus was beginning to grow concerned. But hadn't Brachi said something about his blond officer having not have lived the last two years of Brachi's life yet? Maybe he did have a future outside of the village. A future that apparently included the witch who had been his best student, then his assistant, and then his defacto First Prime.
Phoebe looked very sad at that. "Oh," she said softly. "Camulus... what is the last thing about the two of us that you remember?"
She wasn't sure she wanted to hear his answer, but part of her needed to.
"We were preparing the final exams for my classes," Camulus said slowly, thinking about those last few days in his teaching profession. "Ba'al came that night and I left."
Phoebe looked stricken. "That's... that's all you remember?"
"There's more to remember?"
Phoebe felt herself sway slightly and she grabbed onto the nearest thing to keep her from falling.
"You and me... us..." She whispered, shaking her head and looking away for a moment so she could try to regain her composure. "You don't remember..."
Camulus caught her again as she swayed, lifting her with easy strength. "Forgive me?" he offered uncertainly, not sure exactly why he was apologizing.
"You really don't remember us being together," she asked quietly.
"I remember being your teacher and your . . . friend," Camulus told her quietly, the echo leaving his voice. He unconsciously held her even though the need for it was passed. "You were with someone else, your own age."
She shook her head, looking up into his face. "I haven't been with him for years. Things didn't work out and then... you and I..."
She was trying to puzzle all of this out.
A kind of hope was quickly strangled by guilt. Camulus never felt guilty over his conquests. What had come over him?
"Not yet," he said, feeling lost himself. "Not yet."
"So then... you don't even recall our first kiss?" Phoebe looked up into his eyes again, trying to understand what was happening.
"Most certainly not." He rather wished he could.
The rush of sadness that Phoebe felt move through her was so powerful that she had to avert her eyes in hopes that he wouldn't see it. She was feeling really rather confused. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and looked back up at him.
Later, she wouldn't be able to say what possessed her, but she stretched up to brush her lips gently against his.
Camulus thought he saw her expression changed and opened his mouth to summon up some kind of words of comfort when she kissed him. He stiffened in surprise but didn't draw away. Little Phoebe was not so little any more, and little Phoebe knew what she wanted.
Phoebe stepped back down after she kissed him and then smiled up at him. Yes, she knew what she wanted and she wasn't so little any longer. "Been wanting to do that."
"I can see that," he replied a bit vaguely, blinking a couple of times. He drew away from her again, his mind in turmoil over what to do with her. Well, it was clear that his first concern was to get her settled comfortably until that bump went down.
"I'm glad you're here, Camulus. I really have missed you. It's been hard."
Now what was this wave of guilt for? He didn't know what to say, other than to repeat the unfamiliar apologies and another "I missed you, too."
So he affixed a grumpy sort of scowl on his face and turned them towards the hotel. "Enough of that. Come on, let's find you your room."
Seeing the scowl, Phoebe grinned. "Yep, still using that same face with me when you're trying to get me to do something."
"I am nothing if not consistently irritated by you, ghraidh."
Phoebe let out a peal of happy laughter. "Uh huh, astor." She was grinning. "I keep you on your toes."
"You'll have some competition in that area now."
"You found someone who can irritate you as much as I can? I'll have to get back into practice then," she grinned and wrapped an arm around his waist.
Camulus hesitated a moment before putting his arm around her slim shoulders. Most definitely not seventeen. "Actually, I have. He's a constant annoyance and too damned good at it. I fear for my safety if the two of you were to compare notes."
Phoebe looked up at him. "You know I would never do anything to compromise your safety and I would hurt anyone else who did." Not seventeen, but still a witch with a temper when it came to looking out for those she cared about. "So what's he like? Handsome? Feminine? Scary?"
"I know, ghraidh." Camulus paused, mulling over the question slowly. "Scary is the only thing right there . . ."
Somewhere, a drum kicked in and electric guitar followed. "Met him at my own gym, hired him to train them. Waiting in the corner, he'd have them running laps. There was I expecting a really tasty bird, he said I was good looking and I'd never doubt his word. When you seem there he'd seem a real disgrace - I think, nice legs, shame about the face."
Phoebe was quiet as she looked up at him, listening to him singing.
Camulus had no idea why he was singing. It seemed to make sense. "I got into a fist fight, I really let him down. So I made it up with a night out on the town. Out of the gym and work hours, we weren't getting far, so we had a drink but it wasn't at a bar. He asked me what I thought of him, I put him in his place - I said, nice legs, shame about his face."
The mysterious background guitar went into a wail and gave the impression of a stage dive, and Camulus blinked. "Did I just . . ."
Phoebe nodded and looked at him. "Uhm... yeah, you really just did..." She tilted her head. "So what's his name?"
"Brachi Stildyne. Stildyne to most. He works as a trainer at the gym I've found myself owning." Absently, his thumb traced circles on her shoulder.
Phoebe nodded. "As long as he is nice to you for the most part and doesn't get snarky too much about me being around? Then I won't have to pick a fight with him." She was joking... maybe. However, there wasn't even a hint of jealousy in her voice. "Oh, you own a gym? That mean I can get back into my work outs and such?"
"I wouldn't say he's nice to me. But he's very, very good." Camulus couldn't help the smirk that snuck in there. The idea that Phoebe would be jealous hadn't crossed his mind; the idea of her sticking around even less so. But he realized now that Phoebe was here and given that she thought they were . . . well, more than they were, she would be around quite often. "He shares quite happily. I tire him out." He looked down at her. "I have been looking for someone to help with running the gym. Paperwork and the like."
Phoebe was wearing a matching smirk as she looked up at him. "Well, then as long as he doesn't mind sharing you with me, then I won't have to cast any spells on him, then." She nodded. "I'm good at that stuff, so you know I'll do whatever you need me to do, then." She raised an eyebrow. "There is a punching bag there, correct?"
Camulus could just imagine Stildyne's face at the news that he had to worry about hexes on top of shrink rays. "There is. Poor thing. Certain people keep showboating and breaking it." But there was something else . . . "Phoebe, ghraidh, I don't know what you're expecting from me . . . but to me, you're still my student. My young student."
Phoebe just gave him a look and her eyes were sparkling with a great deal of mischief. "I haven't been your student for quite awhile, Camulus," she pointed out. "Whether you remember that or not, to me it's clear. I'll try not to get in your way... but I am not a little girl any more." She grinned up at him. "I'm also a lot more stubborn and determined than that child you remember me as. Hells, I've been to hell and back."
"I don't doubt it," he told her with a small but genuine smile. He had known Phoebe to be strong and it had only increased his fondness for her. But now his feelings were being cast in a different light and he felt uncomfortable about the transition.
"Then if you want me to stay away from you, you had better tell me so right now, otherwise, I don't plan to." Yep, that was her own stubborness and her new determination about things talking. She was a long way from seventeen.
"Do you think I'd turn you away so soon after finding you again, ghraidh?" He wouldn't do that to either of them. "But we are different people than either of us remember."
She gave him a slow grin that could only mean trouble. "Exactly."
Camulus suppressed a groan. That was suppose to dissuade her. "What have I gotten myself into . . ."
"Nothing that you won't enjoy, I'm sure..."
Camulus almost asked if he had enjoyed it before but didn't know if he could handle that news or not. So he just laughed and shook his head slightly. "I suppose I should at some point welcome you to the village."
If he had asked, she would have told him that he had indeed enjoyed it very much before.
"Yes, you probably should," she said with a grin.
"You can't leave."
"Why not?"
"I don't know. People leave as they arrive - vanishing suddenly or fading away, but you cannot simply walk out. You'll find yourself back in the same spot you started from."
"So... the town kidnaps you then?" She looked confused again. "But then how did I get here? I should be dead, but instead, I'm here with you -- which I am very glad about. And, if I was brought here, does that mean the demons who tried to kill me will show up, too? Because I'm too fond of running into people who are trying to kill me. I'll need to get weapons from somewhere."
"I don't know how you got here. I walked in. I think it's different for most people - but I was on the run from Ba'al and I haven't seen him. You may be safe yet." The idea of his Phoebe having to arm herself didn't sit well with Camulus.
Phoebe looked up at him and was confused by the emotions she was picking up from him.
"I hope that they don't show up then. I'm out of practice with my knife, but if I get back into working out I can at least defend myself. I have no desire to wind up dead."
She shrugged. "I'll deal with that when the time comes."
"And I have no desire to see you that way. The gym has training equipment, and there's a dojo in the village that teaches swordwork, I believe." This was Camulus's 'protective growl' glower.
Yes, she had remembered that 'protective growl' glower. It was very familiar. "The gym should be fine to work out in. Training with a sworde? That I'll think about later."
Camulus gestured in front of them at the building that rose in the middle of town. "Another quirk is that blasted hotel. Our living quarters. All new arrivals have been booked in and find a room waiting. Occasionally a roommate as well. I have not been saddled with one yet. Some rooms are more comfortable than others." This said with a faint smirk as he thought of Stildyne's shameless attempts to steal Camulus's bed for the night.
"Dear gods. I hope that the hotel decides it likes me and gives me a nice room, then. A roommate would probably not like me very much anyway."
"Oh no? I've always found you to be a rather likeable person."
"That's because you appreciate the person I am and have never tried to change me or want me to become anything else but who I am."
That sounded entirely too much like one of those posters that featured kittens and tree limbs. Camulus was a bit suspicious and he glanced down at her. "And what would be the point in changing you? Too many things could go wrong and then I'd just have to start all over."
She grinned back up at him. "Many people have tried, but thank the gods you are way more practical than they are."
"Or perhaps even my ego isn't big enough to assume that it could change you." Was he . . . flirting? With Phoebe?
Phoebe smiled and then leaned up to kiss of his cheek. She had noticed the flirting.
"I'm really glad you like me the way I am."
Camulus bowed his head before looking away hurriedly, smothering his embarrassment. "Hmph."
Phoebe smiled and then shrugged. "Not everyone has that much common sense... like the time I was kidnapped and taken to hell and... well, you probably have no interest story, actually."
"No, I believe I wouldn't," Camulus sighed, rubbing his temple for a moment. "Although knowing you, it's probably happened more than once."
"Well, only the most recent kidnapping had them planning to cut pieces off of me and kill me that way," she said quietly. "I did manage to escape with minimal damage,"
"Ghraidh," Camulus said in a pained voice, "why do you tell me these things?"
"Because I don't ever want you to think that I am trying to hide things from you or lie to you?"
"A very noble effort but there's only so many strains to the system this body can take. It's not getting any younger."
Phoebe nodded. "Alright, then next time I get kidnapped and almost killed, I won't tell you or let you know." She thought this sounded like a good idea in her head.
"Alright! I surrender, I give up . . ."
It was only Phoebe's concern that kept her from saying 'Oh good, faster than I had hoped for, where is your room?'
Instead, she blinked up at him. "What? What's wrong?"
"I can't win. Either you tell me about this things and I worry, or you don't tell me and I still worry. It's . . . unpleasant." He glowered.
"I don't want you to worry, Camulus... you know that. You'd also get cranky if I saw something was going to happen and I didn't tell you and I disappeared, correct?"
"Exactly," Camulus sighed. He wrapped his arm around her again. "At least you can see it coming. Brachi vanished on me one day." He glowered again at the memory.
Phoebe leaned into him and then frowned. "Well, now that I'm here, there'll be no more of that. We'll make sure we know ahead of time before vanishings happen."
[[OOC: Played via e-mail with the lovely godinakilt]]