Outside Novosibirsk | Monday Night

[guardian_god]

"Dimiiiiitri!" Jessi whined

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[guardianborn]

Rose had paced the weird apartment-suite thing for what felt like hours after Jessi had finally left. Jessi who'd bought her fancy clothes of all things and then whined about how she was going to become Dimitri's Dark Princess and why was Rose there ruining everything again before Rose had lost all patience and threatened her. The 'Princess' had run out of the room, punching in the door code too fast for Rose to catch it.

She'd finally decided that if she was going to be able to make up an escape plan, she'd have to get some sleep, and the bed was disturbingly comfortable. A rustling of paper woke her up, and Rose sat up quickly, looking around for the source. Dimitri.

She got out of bed, the situation bringing back too many memories to do anything but jump away from the sheets as quickly as possible. "What are you doing here?" Rose asked, grateful she hadn't undressed at all before sleeping.

[guardian_god]

He thought it was fairly obvious, but answered anyway, not bothering to turn around and face her. "Waiting for you to wake up."

[guardianborn]

He was reading. Somehow that creeped Rose out more than the cold tone in his voice. She moved into the living area so she could see him better, standing with her back against the wall.

"Wow, you'd think being awakened and all that shit would make you more interesting."

[guardian_god]

Dimitri glanced Rose's way, tucking his book away. "Westerns are always interesting to me. You slept a long time."

[guardianborn]

"Yeah, so I was wrong," she snarked, trying desperately to keep the front of snark and defiance up. She glanced out the window, frustrated that it was obviously pitch black through the window. She had slept a long time. "What do you want?"

[guardian_god]

Another obvious question. "To see you."

[guardianborn]

Rose pulled a face, annoyed she couldn't get him to react. "Just another step on your way to making me one of the walking dead?"

[guardian_god]

There was no need to respond to her comparing him to a zombie. It was much easier to change the subject. "You can sit down, you know."

[guardianborn]

"No thanks," she said, leaning more comfortably against the wall. He'd taught her how to stand for hours after all. "I'm good here."

Far, far away from him.

[guardian_god]

"I'm not going to hurt you," he pointed out again, realizing her reasoning for standing.

[guardianborn]

Her face flickered for a moment, some of the devastation of the past few months showing through to someone who knew her well. It was way too late for that, wasn't it?"

"Hurt's one of those subjective terms," Rose pointed out. "Maybe Jessi could enlighten you about that."

[guardian_god]

"You mean tell me how you punched her?" Because she'd already done that much. "You're letting your temper get away from you again."

[guardianborn]

"Yeah, doesn't seem much point in watching it, you know?" she snapped, tossing her hair back and finally pacing over to an armchair across from him. Standing against the wall just made her feel like she was scared.

Okay, she was totally scared, but she didn't want Dimitri to know that.

[guardian_god]

His eyes tracked her movement from the wall to the chair, a section of hair falling from his low ponytail as his head turned. "You're still amazingly beautiful even after fighting and sleeping. It's no wonder others are jealous of your presence here."

[guardianborn]

He wasn't one to talk about still being gorgeous. Rose couldn't help wondering if that tendril of hair would still feel silky and gorgeous under her fingers.

"Hey, if it's a problem for you, I'm happy to leave."

[guardian_god]

"It's far from a problem," Dimitri answered, letting his eyes rove over her once more.