Kuoh Academy

[Apollymi]

It was the case that Takumi accepted the type of open reception that Maiko had to offer, and was able to find himself and his resolve even more in these moments. He then moved in to kiss her once more which she accepted without thinking about it a second time. And such would begin something calm but different between these two members of Eira's Peerage in her absence. Whatever else was taking place, this day would turn into the next day. And time would seem to pass at a pace which was rather strange and unknown as weird to most.

Sometime in the late afternoon a full week after she'd left, Eira would reappear via Magic Circle in her office within the old school house which was home to the Occult Research Club. It seemed to her that only an hour or two had passed but, there was something strange on her desk which let her know this wasn't simply the case. "Ano? What's this?" she mused looking at the paperwork which was marked progress reports for all the students who belonged to her club and something she was expected to look over as President. It was obviously something she'd intended to do, but still she didn't expect to see it here, her brow raised in confusion as she walked out of the room still wearing her black dress and laced up shoes looking to see if her Queen was still here. "I-zu-na!?~" she questioned aloud not sure if he was to be found here or not given the way they'd been when last separated.

[Bloodedge]

As one could normally expect, Izuna was indeed present in the club building. The call of his name in that familiar tone Eira used reached his ear easily, and within only a few moments, he appeared behind her. He was once again floating as if relaxing on an invisible bed, and his eyes were even closed as if he'd been sleeping like this until moments prior. This was not the case, but simply how he chose to relax. A full week had passed since he or anyone else in the peerage had last seen their leader, but in spite of that, he didn't seem incredibly bothered by it. If anything, he appeared curious as only his eye closest to Eira opened to look upon her. "Hm?"

[Apollymi]

Strangely Eira was still a bit confused by what she found in her office, even so, when she was finally answered by Izuna his voice came from behind her in his usual way. She found herself turning to see him floating in the air as if completely relaxed and laying upon a bed, which in this case she'd assumed was one of the couches until he was ready to leave. Given she assumed this to be the same day she'd left she'd begin talking about that which she'd been thinking over what she'd assumed was the last few hours. "There you are!~" she mused happily. "I've been dealing with someone who doesn't really like me, and I've come to the conclusion I've been insufferable..." she explained as she looked at the lad. "I'm not exactly over it or anything, or maybe I kind of am, but I know what I have to do," she explained thinking about the unintended effect she'd had on the vampire she'd woken and considering that it might be time for her to find some real answers about how she chose to control her powers. Regardless of this there was the actual matter of the thing which she'd intended. "I'm sorry for snapping at you," she said sincerely. She meant what she said in this moment but knew that Izuna also wasn't really the type to dwell on such a thing. She'd known him far too long to assume anything real changed between them even when her tantrums ended up aimed his way. As such she found herself reaching out for him to pull him into her arms as he floated, her aim to seek the comfort she'd wanted to give but been denied earlier. "Ano, I meant to ask, did Lu-chan drop off progress reports early? I didn't expect to find them on my desk just yet," she questioned as she aimed to hug this young man.

[Bloodedge]

Eira began to speak, and her words didn't quite explain something to be considered very important. This explanation for what she'd been dealing with, or rather the final acknowledgement that she'd been going through something troublesome, was something Izuna had been waiting quite a long time to hear. She may not have been over it, but it was this starting point Izuna sought when he decided not to participate in the peerage's last activity which involved the crimson-haired woman. Further yet, she apologized for the last exchange they had. Izuna closed his eyes the moment he heard this. The hug she intended to pull him into resulted in her arm passing through thin air as the image of Izuna faded. In the next moment though, his arms would wrap around her midsection from behind as his torso pressed against her back, and his forehead rested upon the crown of her head. "Baaaka~" he chanted. He didn't know why she'd been gone, nor why she thought progress reports were early, but he was quite relieved to see his old friend after such a random disappearance. This would always be the case regardless of their terms in the moment of parting. "Reports aren't early; they've been here for two days. You were gone for a whole week, moron," he said in a soft and gentle tone he only managed to share with Eira when they were separate from other listeners.

[Apollymi]

Whatever Izuna was thinking he seemed to accept what she had to say, his eyes closed after her apology and strangely Eira's arm touched nothing as she'd attempted to grasp him. Much to her surprise and legitimate comfort, instead he appeared at her back his torso pressed against her his forehead resting on the crown of her head. He spoke to her in a tone she so rarely heard when they were around others, it was almost possible for her to forget, and at the same time, it was so characteristically him, that the smile on her face only managed to settle. The only thing that could possibly disturb this was the knowledge about to hit her ears even in the soft tone Izuna spoke it in. Her eyes widen but she wouldn't leave her point of comfort even for the shock of knowing how much time had passed. "Shit!" she swore under her breath at the knowledge. "It only felt like a couple of hours. I expected a bit of a discrepancy but... not a whole week," she managed to sound upset with herself for being gone so long. She could only hope that no one had been too worried about her sudden disappearance especially given the strangeness of her actions leading up to that point. Even so she found herself tucking her arms into Izuna's which were already wrapped around her body. "Bet you aren't ready for the super news Eira Edition~ I been busy~" she teased this man in a manner similar to that which he'd been known for teasing everyone else.

[Bloodedge]

The news of how long she'd been gone was something obviously surprising to Eira. Izuna figured she somehow managed to lose track of time while she was out. Much to his surprise, she had only experienced a short amount of time as far as her absence was concerned. "A couple of hours?" he repeated with an upward inflection. In a strange moment of afterthought, Izuna allowed a weak laugh to escape him while he tightened his grip on the heiress. This occurred while she mentioned having news of her own, even going so far as to name it in the way Izuna would have done. "Baka. What could you possibly have to say that'd be considered super news?"

[Apollymi]

"Just a couple..." she mused. Thinking about it from the outside perspective, it would be easy to see how one might find it strange that she'd managed to lose track of time in a way that made her disappear for a week. For the most part it would have been much more reasonable if she'd simply said she'd gone off to clear her head and left, but she was far too honest to lie about such a thing. Eira noted the tightening of this fox youkai's grip on her person, but she didn't mind it at all. In fact, it and his weak laugh spurred her to explain where she'd been. "Well, I mean... there is the bit where I went into a haunted house which was time locked inside and outside covered in darkness," she explained calmly of where she'd been. "And the part where I met a blood starved vampire basically double locked in a coffin with a magical artifact buried in his chest..." she said. "Oh I almost forgot the reason I was in that house to start with the part where I now have a pact with the Ebon High Magician."

Eira let that sentence hang alone in the air a devious smile spreading across her face, knowing that she'd saved the most shocking bit for last.

[Bloodedge]

For whatever reason, Izuna found himself feeling quite sentimental at this particular time. As such, he remained motionless around Eira as she told the tale of her recent adventure. It apparently involved her being in a place that was frozen in time, explaining her extended absence while she only believed herself to be gone for a short time. She also managed to come into contact with a sealed and starving vampire whom she likely helped out in both scenarios, given her normal approaches. As she came toward the conclusion of this story, Izuna settled into the comfort of the embrace he'd brought the woman into, even going so far as to begin floating again. He took a mid-air lax sitting position this time, albeit without releasing Eira as to leave her leaned against his fore as he himself leaned back. Eira gave her reason for being in this time-locked house, and in doing so, revealed her most recent accomplishment in the form of a pact with a legendary magician. "Ebon High, huh... I remember that name. Good for you, Eir, but you don't get to ignore the fact that you left me for a week."

[Apollymi]

Izuna soon positioned himself so he was sitting floating in the air but still wrapped around her. This was quite different for Eira as her fox boy hadn't been this level of affectionate in quite a while. She didn't mind it, but it seemed to be very odd, she wondered if this was a potential side-effect of their current level of bond. He was however less excited about the news she'd given him than she'd come to expect of him. In fact, his response was one which implied he'd been some sort of lonely while she was gone, or perhaps had felt abandoned by her extended absence. Since she was now floating with him she rotated her body in front of him, aiming to rest her head on his chest and squeeze him properly for the first time today. She reached up to his face with her left hand with the still visible bite mark on her finger tip, but she persisted until this hand met the right side of his face. "Sumimasen, Izuna. I can't remember the last time we've been apart so long, I didn't mean to leave you behind," she said softly. More of that Vampire's words entered her mind, the slight about the fact that some of them might actually be attached brought to mind the one person who attached himself to her by cutting all previous strings. "I don't know how I'm going to make it up to you..." she whispered into his chest as she squeezed him just a bit tighter.

[Bloodedge]

Following what he had to say, Eira rolled around atop him until she could use his chest as a pillow of sorts. She also raised a hand which smelled slightly of blood to his face, but in this moment, he couldn't bring himself to question the scent at all. He was content with this moment in time, more so than he normally would have been. Eira's whisper into his chest implied a desire to repay some debt which Izuna didn't follow along with, so when he heard this, he sighed. "How about... don't do that again. Yeah, that oughta do the trick," he said as his left hand rose to place itself atop the woman's head.

[Apollymi]

Eira squeezed this fox boy and waited for him to name the price of her recent offense against him. Strangely, though she left open the offer he decided after a sigh that all he wanted was for her not to do this again. Though she'd been speaking into his chest by the time his hand met the top of her head she looked up in surprise at him. Her eyes widened just a tad as she appreciated him more than she'd thought possible in this moment. She withdrew her hand from near his face and wrapped it back around him instead. "I mean you could have held out a little. It might have gotten you a home cooked meal or a nice pastry or something..." she teased before looking up again. "It's a deal though..." she mused as he held her like this floating around her office. She couldn't remember the last time they'd done this, but somehow it felt both nostalgic and new. Since they were like this she supposed she also owed him a bit of an explanation about her actual bad mood of, apparently, the previous week. "I think I over did it with Takumi when I gave him his marks. I thought he wouldn't be affected by me, no one else really is... but I'm pretty sure he was, and I felt really conflicted about it because he ran from me afterwards. My feelings might be a bit too easily hurt when I think about it like that..." she said these words again thinking about the vampire she'd met. Something about the way he'd spoken to her really jabbed her even after he'd left.

[Bloodedge]

"Heh! Maybe, but... I don't like eating alone, so the potential trade wouldn't be worth it. You know that," Izuna said to the one who knew him better than any other in this world, bar two. Even as a joke, the idea of Eira disappearing again as a consequence to this demand not being made was something he couldn't tolerate. As they floated, Eira took it upon herself to share her troubles from the previous week. Their connection had made it more than obvious that she was troubled at the time, but he had no idea at all what the cause was, and she was obviously in no mood to discuss it then. Now though, she revealed the cause to be a situation that unfolded between herself and the Red Dragon Emperor. Izuna closed his eyes again and peered into the woman's memory as she gave him this information, allowing him to see things from her perspective. When he was done, his eyes opened to narrow slits. "Sou ka. Probably could have worded that better. Or... timed it better, even. You're really hopeless, aren't you?"

[Apollymi]

"I guess that is true..." she said of the trade which would have been involved. She wouldn't dream of purposefully leaving this young man behind for any reason. The Queen of her Peerage had been her friend since her proper adolescence. She didn't wish to part from him for any reason, nor did she ever intend to be too far from him at any point in time. Beyond this as she broached the topic of her previous week, which still was really to her, no more than a little over a day prior to this one, she hugged his stomach during her explanation and given what he took from her mind she knew he had the full picture of her colossal mistake. Izuna went on to comment that she could have both timed and worded her statement better while also calling her hopeless. And she was abashed enough to bury her reddened face into his chest and shake it back and forth. "I really am hopeless, I was just so caught off-guard, and I just really wanted..." this sentence didn't have a finite ending outside of Eira's head, but the fact that she claimed she'd wanted something was likely a shocking one. Eira didn't express wants, she didn't desire... and she certainly didn't feel it with the conviction she'd felt in that moment. She still didn't realize the gravity of what she'd said, nor did she have any idea why she was like this. Eira wasn't really bad at interacting with anyone, but it seemed when it came to Takumi she was always a mess, since the day she'd saved him she just couldn't get her act together around him. "I'm crazy aren't I?" she asked the center of Izuna's chest with the petulance of a child.

[Bloodedge]

"Well, I wouldn't feel too bad about it," Izuna said. Having seen all of Takumi's available memories prior to his bout of unconsciousness at the Rating Game, Izuna knew what sort of issues the young dragon had. Compared to that, Eira had only experienced something of a hiccup in her usual demeanor. "I wanna say the kid's even worse, and that wouldn't have worked out anyway... but he's not matching up to the memories I had since you left. You saw it yourself though; it's almost like day and night between that guy now, and him before last week. So maybe it was all your fault," he concluded. His floating began to shift, eventually guiding himself and Eira around the room in a slow circle of sorts. Her asking if she was crazy resulted in the full opening of his eyes. He wanted to laugh, but he couldn't manage such a thing. "Definitely. Buuut... you're pretty good at keeping your shit together, so just fix it."

[Apollymi]

Eira listened quietly as Izuna spoke to her about the situation she'd found herself in. Beyond what she'd managed to mess up, it seemed that Takumi was no better off than he had been when she'd found him broken in her bed after the death of his parents. She couldn't help but feel bad for the lad, though she was admittedly a bit relieved that Izuna didn't think it would have worked out for her regardless. When he went on to say that Takumi was like day and night in relation to how he acted post his trauma and mused about how it might have been her fault she shook her head. "Iie, the Takumi I pulled from the Boosted Gear is the one who exists and persists. And the guy outside was 'nothing' according to him. So who he is now... is who he always was..." she said of that experience. She supposed if this was the case, she didn't really know this version of Takumi at all, and had managed to see only glances of him before that point. 'Maybe... that's right,' she thought to herself. In reply to the question of her sanity, apparently Izuna thought that she was definitely crazy and but that this wasn't actually the point and she should do what she needed to do. "Hai hai, I plan to. Arigatou na..." she said squeezing this fox once more but continuing to relax on their slow drift for however long it would last.