It was a quiet evening in the workshop as Marin tinkered around. She knew that Hendrix would be getting up soon to come fetch her. He disliked it when she slaved away all night on her pet projects. Steady orange eyes looked up in the direction of the third floor where Hendrix was lounging. He had been trying to teach her not to work her life away and yet it for hard for her. He discovered or at least started to uncover her fear of people. Her fear of crowds. It was a relatively new thing thanks to her apprentice all those years ago. For the most part she waved it all off and acted like it was nothing but deep down it was tearing her apart every time she left her home.

She blew on the project and watched as metal flakes and wooden splinters cleared from the project’s surfaces. “It looks rather good I think. My best one yet.” The issue was… Marin hadn’t actually completed a project she had started on since her phobia began. If people requested a fix she was quick to do it but she only accepted it through the little panel on the door. Money was exchanged through a mailbox like system. She never actually had to see them at all. Hendrix said it was unhealthy. Marin thought it was survival. How else would she deal with such a thing.

That was when the windows shattered in and she let out the most startled noise. The sound of wings buzzing and their bodies coming through the windows. Her eyes got wide as her heart started to rapidly beat. She let out a shriek. Though she was kick on her feet as she ran to the pens where she kept the experimental plants. “HENDRIX,” she shrieked once more like a whimpering child as the beasts came out and rampaged towards the bugs. They managed to land two arrows under her right rib.

She grimaced hard but she numbed herself as she fought her way up the very stairs she normally hated. She panted and leaned against the entryway to the third floor before attempting to make her way up. She held the arrows tightly against her as not to move it. She could feel the serrated edges. Marin needed a healer.

“Hendrix,” she whimpered. The sounds of the plants dying and of insects, dying rang from the lower floors. “We have to leave.” That was when the voices came and they learned of Angela and Xunatar’s fort in Endapano. “I know you’ll hate it but,” she whimpered once more as the arrows moved. “Help me, please. Take me to my mother. I can gate us there.” She felt cold now as she wrapped herself in a warm blanket. She was easy with the arrows. Her legs were beginning to shake as she could hardly stand. “You’ll have to carry me if that’s okay.” The blanket was getting blood all over it and it was soaking through the soft fur by the second. “We have to go now. The arrows are serrated I can’t pull it out by myself.” There was a whimper again as there were crashing on the second floor now. Sounds of rushing bodies as they crashing into the entryway of the third floor like a pack of wild animals. “Quickly!” She opened the portal as soon as they were ready.

It was draining even doing that much as she held onto him and put her forehead against his neck. “Find my mom… Shouldn’t be hard. Just yell for her… or some–” With that Marin passed out.

Hendrix was relaxing as he had been doing so since his arrival here. He was in no rush to leave here for Arri, or anywhere for that matter. He didn’t like people himself, but he could at least entertain the thought of dealing with them. The lady of the house was a different matter. While he was sure that the way she was living was entirely unreasonable and would serve to do nothing for her, it wasn’t his place ultimate. He was no babysitter or had any responsibility to change her. Marin, wherever she behaved like one or not, was an adult.

Anywho, he was drifting in and out of sleep when he thought he heard something breaking. Judging where he was, he assumed that Marin did something that caused an explosion, rolled onto his side and ignored it. Every now then before the scream, he could have sworn he heard buzzing. But when he heard his name being called, Hendrix leaped onto his feet and headed towards the stairs to see what was going on. The further he went, the more buzzing he heard and it unnerved him a great deal. “What the hell…” He managed to reach the end of the stairs and saw her, with arrows in her. “Ah crap.” Hendrix rushed over and grabbed her to keep her steady. He was no healer and whoever or whatever did this to her was still in the house. “Leave? Leave wher…”

When the answer came, his face dropped and he wanted to be the one to hide from the rest of the world. Lovely, just lovely. There was no bone in his body that wanted to deal with his father, who had just released him from centuries of imprisonment. As bad as these things were, dealing his father was worse in his eyes. But there was no time to argue as she prepared as best she could to handle the blood lost. “Alright, let’s get this over with.” He REALLY didn’t want to do this, but it couldn’t be helped. He kneeled down so that she could get behind him and he held onto her as he slowly stood straight back up. His eyes darted towards the stairs, where those things were heard coming closer. Hendrix wasn’t a fighter, which meant if they stayed, they would be screwed. Fortunately, Marin opened a portal and he headed off as soon as he could, carrying her out.

What was he supposed to do now? He wasn’t the sort that drew in attention; more so the sort that liked to hang back in the shadows. He would of asked Marin, but she was out for the time being which made him groan inwardly.

“Hey, where’s this goddess at? I need Angela to come and see her daughter. She’s in trouble”, he stated as he roamed around the camp, searching for her mother. Hell, he didn’t even know what she looked like for Pete's sake.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t run into his father like…ever.

“Hendrix?” It was Eldora who’s eyes were large at who was in his arms. “What happened?” But she didn’t wait for his response. “Come!” She moved as fast as her little legs could carry her until they found a rather large tent. It had many patients in it and Angela was overseeing one of them at that moment. “ANGELA!” Her voice carried but Angela had noticed before her name was called.

Her long red hair was braided and she seemed to have on green robes with gold trim. Green eyes met Hendrix’s and before long she took Marin from him. “You’ll have to introduce yourself later. Eldora fetch Belle.” Eldora nodded and ran out of the tent. “Voice be damned she is a mess.” She found a clear table and laid Marin down. Without caring that Hendrix was there she looked up at him. “Over here, boy. You’ll have to help I’m short staffed and Xunatar needs Eldora at the moment.”

A tall blonde girl ran in and nearly slammed into Hendrix as she stopped. Panting a bit Belle put her hands on her knees as she took a break. “Tell me what to do Mother.”

“Well… For one,” Angela started to rip at Marin’s clothes. It didn’t matter if Hendrix was there or not. With the dress ripped Angela flung Marin’s arms up and directed Belle to hold them down. “You,” Angela looked at Hendrix now. “Hold Marin’s legs down.”

Angela put one of her hands firmly onto Marin’s belly. “Good, these arrows aren’t lodged in very far. If they were I would have to dig them out the other way… It’s not pleasant these are serrated.” Next, she tilted her head. “That little shit.”

“What is it?” Belle looked confused.

“She converged all of her magic into the spots where the arrows were on her. This helped stop the damage but its made her unconscious so she could focus on the two points. I’m going to have to remove the seals by force but when I do that she will wake up. I expected that as it was which is why you both are holding her down. Brace yourselves.”

Angela worked on removing the seals which came easily for her before Marin woke up with a gasp. There was a cry of pain but Angela didn’t appear to grimace as most mothers would. “Steady now children.” Angela began to pull and it caused Marin to struggle as a reaction. Cries of pain filled the tent and attention turned to them for a few moments before healers tried to contain the situation.

The first arrow was out and Marin panted and closed her eyes. “You need to breathe more Marin… It might help the pain.” Angela’s words were warm but she only gave Marin a few seconds to get ready before she worked the deepest of the arrows out of her belly. The arrow snapped off and Angela let out a cuss.

“Pardon me,” She went over to the table not far and retrieved a thin dagger before prying the arrowhead out the rest of the way. Blood was covering both Marin’s lower body now and Angela’s hands. “You can let her go now. Belle retrieve me some hot presses and start to clean the wound. Boy, for the time being.” She took his hands and gave him a press. She put it over the wound and had him put force on it. “This is very important. Do not let up on the force. Belle will come back and help clean up around it and have you briefly move the press before she gives you a clean one. I have to retrieve something from my tent.”

Belle and Hendrix were left to work on Marin. Before long Angela came back with a flask and set it down. With her wound cleaned Angela shooed them both back as she dumped the contents of the flask onto Marin’s belly. Leaning down she blew onto the liquid and a magic circle appeared. It began to glow and slowly the liquid was pulled into the wounds. “This should seal it up. I’ll stitch it once it is done.”

Marin had been quiet but she was more than likely in shock. Her orange eyes rolled back and the half-demon passed out. “I bet it exhausted her.” Angela sounded worried now that the worst was over. “In my tent Belle there is an extra set of robes can you bring it here?” Belle nodded and ran off.

“Thank you for bringing her here… But by your scent and some of your looks… You are one of Xunatar’s… Are you not?”

It was like he was lost in a sea of people; warriors, healers and everything in between was here and it was starting to bug him that he couldn’t seem to find this Angela woman. But it was of dire importance as he felt how cold Marin was getting. When he heard his name, Hendrix swung around and saw Eldora. Thank the gods! She rushed him over to the tent that he presumed would have the girl’s mother or at least a capable healer to help keep her stable until then.

The woman he spotted simply couldn’t be Angela…he looked from her and down to Marin for a quick moment in trying to make sense of it. They hardly looked alike but he didn’t bother to question it any further. He helped to lay her daughter down onto the prepared table, but he visibly flinched when she spoke his father’s name. That was the absolutely last person he wanted to see here. So far he was lucky not to run into the malicious god, and his eyes shifted over to Belle as she rushed in and almost collided with him.

“Woah!” The demon went to cover his eyes when the Mother went to work on tearing Marin’s dress. He hadn’t signed up for this part and whether it was a life or death situation, it was still indecent of him to look. He spread his fingers enough to peek as he went around and kept his eyes low while holding her legs down. Something told him that this wasn’t going to pleasantly, but she seemed to know what she was doing. Plus, it was her own child, so surely she was looking to save her. “Damn bugs…Don’t know where they came from, but they attacked her real quick, before I knew it.” Looking down at Marin, Hendrix had a big frown across his face as he wished that he had at least been downstairs with her at the time. Perhaps then it could have been him…wait. What the hell was he thinking? He had been a lone wolf for as far as he could remember and didn’t have to worry about another person. Even his own siblings played second fiddle, yet he was hoping that he’d been attacked instead of her?

While he did his best not to oogle her, he did look to what her mother pointed out. She was a smart one, if not just reckless. He readied himself for her awakening, which was as bad as the goddess expected. He firmly held onto her legs, trying to ignore her screams and keep her from struggling too much. It was painful to watch the arrows being pulled and his jaw nearly dropped when the last one got stuck. What came next unnerved his stomach, but he kept on with his role as instructed. God, there was a lot of blood and he felt bad for her as the arrowhead was dug up and he released her legs. After that, he found himself with a press and kept it onto the wound, trying to help with the blood loss as much as possible. Damn bugs.

As soon as Belle came back and exchange the presses with him, he continued to press against the wound and looked back at her. “…I’m sorry.” His tone was quiet and it wasn’t likely that she’d heard him but he felt as though he had to apologize for all of this. Angela put the last minute touches onto the injuries and for the time being, everything was alright.

“Unfortunately so”, he replied, his eyes still on Marin. “I’’m Hendrix. I’m not one of my sin siblings. I predate them by a good amount but let’s just say that me and him had some…disputes and I’ve been on his bad side for a good while. Hadn’t planned on coming here had Marin not been in the danger she was in…:”

“This is no time for modesty Boy.” Angela wasn’t about to worry about it right now. There were more important things going on. Thinking about it as she worked Angela looked up at Hendrix if only for a moment. “They probably came from the sea. Mamlak is another battlefield right now. It’s where my husband is… Actually.”

Once Angela had left to retrieve the potion Belle looked up at Hendrix and gave him a smile. “My sister will be alright. You’ll see. Most of us are really hardy. It looks bad now but she will heal fast once Mother puts the finishing touches on it.” Belle put her hands on Hendrix’s to comfort him a bit. However, she moved them just before Angela showed up.

“Yes, he does come off as the sort who would have his children despise him.” Angela rolled her shoulder. “The situation with Eldora and your brother for example. Though that deal was made long before Eldora became your sister in law. Colden doesn’t like him much either… Now that I think about it.” Angela hummed a bit as she got the robes from Belle and dressed Marin carefully. “Marin’s father was a demon like Xunatar. Marin doesn’t talk about him much but I don’t blame her. He always took credit for how brilliant she was. So… one day when she was fixing her sister’s airship cannon… She may or may not have fired it at him. Marin has never liked it much when others take credit for her work. She may or may not have been six when she did that. She illegally climbed up onto an Arri airship.”

Angela got a blanket and wrapped it around Marin. “Follow me. She can rest in one of my clergy tents that are free for family. There’s no point in her having to be in here with the other patients. Her Rosenite and demon blood will kick in just fine here in a few.” She beckoned Hendrix to pick Marin up. They went to a smaller more personal tent with a bed and not a cot. This was obviously something Angela had done for Marin not that she would admit it.

“Let her rest in here… You too. If you must. Food is being cooked for the siblings if you want to steal some grub. My children always fight over food so if you want some you would have to go early… I suppose I could get some for you and bring it so you don’t have to leave her.”

Marin groaned a bit as she was laid on the bed. Her eyes started to flutter a bit. “Her wounds are numb and probably still hurt. They will hurt for a while yet.”

"Henny?" Marin mumbled out.

These bugs…what were they doing here at all? They were foreign, that much was certain but he couldn’t help but wonder why they decided to attack Canelux. Was this some sort of power play by them? Or maybe they just feed and attack, constantly on the move. He couldn’t possibly hope to have his answers come so shortly. No, he’d have to put some time into this but right now all that mattered was Marin’s state.

Belle’s words and gestures were enough to tease him just a bit. He wasn’t a people person by any means and wasn’t too comfortable having conversations with strangers but she didn’t seem all that bad. Neither did Angela, though she was much more no-nonsense- nothing that he couldn’t work with.

“You don’t know the half of it. He seems to mellow out but he was far worse than his present state.” Xunatar was cold, distant and manipulative. His siblings, those that weren’t lost in his delusion, knew that to be true. And from the sounds of it, some of his younger ones that weren’t met yet knew it to be true as well. He turned around when Angela went to dress her daughter, “Father was one to praise you when you did good, and threaten or worse when you failed him. He kept us in line for the longest time before my stupid older brother decided that he could take his place…which landed us in a fate worse than death.” Even thinking about those tombs made him shudder with disgust. While he wouldn’t admit it, he had wished that he could have done what Marin did to her own father.

Carefully he scooped her up into his arms, a feat too easy due to her small stature, and carried her to the next tent. It was more secluded, which suited him fine. Less prying eyes to deal with was alright by his book. He settled her down onto the bed gently. “She’ll probably need it more than I do, to be honest.” Hendrix kneeled down beside the bed and kept a close eye on her; his interest peaked when she started to come to. “…Yeah, it’s me…”, he responded, not completely in love with the nickname, but at least she was safe and sound for the moment. “Don’t try and move. Your mother said that you are gonna be hurting for a little while.”

“Aye, he has mellowed out a lot since the children were born. Even I have noticed in this short time. He has taken to being a grandfather rather well. Whether or not he shows it deeply… I can tell his love for Estelle and the boys is actually true. No telling how he is with you lot though… It isn’t the same after all.” Even Angela knew that much when it came to her own grandchildren.

Angela thought about it and tilted her head. “I suppose that our teaching methods aren’t that far off… but mine are far different for punishments I bet. I know of Sol already though.” Her eyes lifted up to Hendrix. “He and Undine together is quite the problem. As long as they stay away from mine I’m afraid that it is none of my business what he does… rather they do. Undine is… emotionally unstable though from Eldora’s words it appears that Sol has rekindled the mortality that she lost. That makes her even more dangerous in my eyes. Still… if she had killed my sister when she had attacked Arri’s coast… A lot of trouble would have been saved but… On the other note… I wouldn’t be married to Adraejen if not for Cyprus surviving and you wouldn’t have your younger brother… or niece and nephews for that matter.” A lot of good and bad came from Undine’s mistake.

She rolled her shoulders and looked back down to Marin as she worked. Once Marin was safely in Hendrix’s arms Angela seemed a bit more relaxed and warm suddenly now that the worst parts were over.

Marin gave him a hazy smile as her eyes looked him over. She seemed so exhausted as she took hard gasps of air every once in a while. “I did say they got close to her lungs. She is still going to have a hard time for a while with the side that was damaged. It means no zip-lining through your workshop… For about a month.”

“But Ma…” Marin whined gently.

“Two months.” Angela put up two fingers now and it was clear that the more Marin argued the worse the punishment would be. “I don’t negotiate with small half-demon terrorists.” It was a light-hearted jab that made Marin chuckle with a hard cough afterward that had her moving her hand to her chest. “I’ll bring you both some food.” Angela reached over and pat Marin’s head before smiling at Hendrix. “Keep her out of trouble while I’m away.”

Once Angela was gone Marin tried to get up but she was in more pain doing so. It caused her to get frustrated and cross her arms lightly as she laid there looking at Hendrix. “I don’t like being stuck in bed…” However, her orange eyes softened a bit. “Are you okay? I can’t remember what happened after I opened the gate…”

When it came to the man he knew from back then, Xunatar was one that did things that could advance his own agenda. Whether or not his newfound nephews and niece would play similar roles to what he had the slew of siblings had remained to be seen. A part of him, a slither of him wanted to partially believe her words but the strong majority of him knew to know that the elder demon was a cunning snake. Convincing people to believe him was literally his job, and he did a marvelous job of that.

All in all, in his father’s defense, Sol was stupid and got what he deserved. Speaking of which, he hadn’t heard the word of him, which was a relief to him. “Two sides of the same coin. Sol would be the favored child if he kept himself in check. “I really don’t care if he starts anew against Father. I’m out of it this battle of the egomaniacs this time. I don’t really feel like sleeping for some more centuries in a cramped tomb.” He shrugged and looked to Marin, “Oh, that girl…I did warn her, but she’s too much like my brother…another idiot…” He merely gave the goddess a narrow look when she mentioned that without Undine’s failure, he would have more family that he didn’t know about until recently. “Yeah…” Honestly, he had more than enough of the ones he did know and had unfortunately met not too long ago.

Marin woke up and was instantly upset when she was told that she couldn’t ride that godforsaken contraption. He didn’t bother to keep his satisfaction masked- he figured that one day she as was going to get hurt or break her neck or something. If anything, that would just mean that he would have to carry her up and down the stairs, which instantly made his small smile drop. “Damn.”

Two months of carrying the little imp everywhere.

It felt like he was getting punished as well, but at least she was alive. Would make things a lot complicated if she hadn’t survived her injuries. It was a dreadful thought that he didn’t wish to even think of-of her being in that sort of danger. “No problem”, he responded as he sat at the edge of the bed and waited for Angela’s return. Hendrix started to get up when Marin rose, pushing herself more than she could allow. “You don’t need to do that, you’ll only put more strain on yourself.” He was a bit harsh in his tone but it went away as soon as she asked if he was okay. For a time, he couldn’t find his voice- why in the world was she worried about him when she was in trouble and now had to recover. One could plainly see that he was alright, but even so, to ask him of this and be concerned…it wasn’t something he dealt with alot. “Yea…I’m okay. Didn’t get hurt or anything, you made sure of that…”

He was still a bit shocked by her and turned away slightly, “Besides, it was my fault it happened. You strained yourself further back there by trying to make sure I didn’t get hurt. Hell, maybe you wouldn’t have even had to deal with those insects if I hadn’t been around.” As logic would say otherwise, he did feel as though it was his fault. It seemed only further proven with his inability to do something against those beasts.

Angela thought about it for a while and shrugged. “Maybe… It’s because Sol and Undine are a lot more unlike under the surface than it looks. We tend to cling towards people even if it is a bad decision. To be honest, I would say the same thing of your Sol. Being near Undine is… A risk. She is powerful but also she is very jaded. Her jaded view of the world makes me a little curious as to why she is with your Sol. She hates men… She hates just about anyone really. That’s my sister’s fault. Undine used to be a really sweet girl until the incident.” The goddess got quiet for a moment and rubbed her neck. “I saw Cyprus getting worse and yet did nothing since she never asked for help. The day she threw Undine’s small body into the cliffs I felt guilty. If Undine is an idiot it is only because everyone has always failed her. If Sol isn’t failing her I suppose she has found the one person who she can depend on. For better or for worst. That is mortal nature.” Angela tapped the tip of Hendrix’s nose.

She was absolutely certain that he hadn’t wanted the long winded response from her but Angela had decided to tell the story anyways. It wasn’t the complete tale but it was enough for Hendrix to get the base story. Mortals loved things that were bad for them. It didn’t matter how strong they were. They would be destroyed by it.

When Marin woke up she found herself being chastised and bullied. Although to anyone else they would see that she probably deserved both things. The damn that came from his lips drew in Marin’s attention for the time being. What did he mean by that? She gave a little tilt to her head just enough for her mother to notice but didn’t say anything to it.

At first, Marin huffed at him when he scolded her but once she asked him if he was okay it seemed to drop. Her orange eyes watched him for a bit before looking around the guest tent they were provided with. “Yeah… I guess I did… Didn’t I?” Of course, he wasn’t hurt. It was a silly thought that she was embarrassed to have asked him about.

Hendrix turned from her and there was a light jump in her body as she winced. Marin had gone to snatch him in case he was living her but it was all for nothing as he just didn’t want to really look at her. Had she done something wrong? Then his next words came and she tilted her head to the other side now. “But Hendrix…” She got frustrated. “If you weren’t there I wouldn’t have even bothered to try and come here.” Her face was red and now she was looking away from him. She had rather hoped there was something to look at but it was just an empty tent wall. Gods, now he would know she was avoiding him. There was a huff from her but it was more at herself as she slowly but surely brought her eyes back to him so she could face him once more.

“The only reason I opened a gate was to get you out. I’m stubborn. I don’t want my contraptions getting ruined by some bugs. I probably would have tried to hold out on my own and end up dying. I am not a person who asks for help often… but I knew you might feel guilty if I died so I opened the portal to get you out and so you could… not be guilty. So… if you could stop feeling guilty that would be great.” She said it with an affirmative nod as she crossed her arms and looked at him with a stubborn face. “Because I like having you around. Even if we don’t talk much… It's different having someone in the shop that I tolerate and sorta like.”

Her dark skin flushed a bit more as she shifted her eyes away from him and her face twisted into a stubborn look. “Don’t tell anyone I told you that or they will start coming around.” Her eyes switched back to him and her arms got tighter as she hugged herself now.

“Henny?” Her face dropped to a more innocent look as her orange eyes lost their anger and childishness. Her voice was soft and it was borderline whispered. “Do… You not want to be around me? Is that why you said damn earlier? Cause you don’t have to stay with me. I’m pretty sure I can figure something out. It isn’t fair for her just to volunteer you… So you don’t have to stay. I could just invent something to help me out. It wouldn’t be a problem.” Though from the sound of her voice and the look she was giving him. She would have been disappointed if he didn’t stay. “Lots of people don’t want to be around me so its okay if you don’t too.”

It was like a wall had come down and he was seeing her for real now.

Perhaps…he would take such words into consideration. Knowing his brother, he wouldn’t usually hang around anyone or let them be as close as he had observed Undine had been. Sol was just as much as a people person as Hendrix was, which was hard. Then again, he had a jaded view of most things himself and it was possible that he was wrong about how that relationship operated. Maybe the Goddess had a point after all. It made the demon think about a lot of things, but one thing was for certain- he would put arm’s length between him and his father. The boop on his nose came without warning and was unwanted, but she seemed to be the doting type, so it couldn’t be helped.

He wasn’t too happy with the concept of lifting Marin around- he was a thinker, not a strong musclehead that could continue to have her around. She was quite light though so it might have been alright for him. He wouldn’t know of how much a simple word would have thrown her off until later on. At the moment he felt like she had gotten hurt because of him. Even if it wasn’t his fault for her getting shot with those arrows, the heads of them had further damaged her because she stressed over getting upstairs to where he was out. Hendrix turned around as she spoke, reacting similarly to how he had, which would have been comical if the situation wasn’t as serious as it was. “I suppose. I wish I could have at least done something to help out more.” It was a rarity for him to feel down about him- he knew that he was no fighter. A tactician was more of his field than getting on the battlefield. He watched her turn away but wasn’t sure why she was getting frustrated herself.

When she mentioned that without him, she would have stayed back and fought, he stared at her with a frown. That was simply outrageous- she wouldn’t stand a chance and would throw her life away…”Fine, I will stop if you don’t put your inventions above your own welfare, Marin.” His look was stern yet his voice spoke differently. He didn’t want her to die like that, or at all for that matter. Scratching the back of his head, Hendrix shrugged at her claim, but it would be made obvious that he wouldn’t tell anyone this. Hell, who was he supposed to tell? Her mother? He barely knew her, and he didn’t like to talk to people in general. He could at least hold a conversation with Marin, which was something he grew comfortable with in time.

Hendrix was about to speak against that nickname she bestowed on him again, but then it was dropped when he noticed a change in her and fell silent. Apparently, there was some miscommunication between them and he shook his head. “I didn’t say that because I didn’t want to stay. I was thinking of my poor back carrying you up and down those stairs. I can start to see why you loathed them yourself.” It was a light jest to break the mood. “You of all people know how I am. I’m blunt and to the point- if I didn’t want to stay, I would have said so.” Even he wasn’t that blind to see that she didn’t want him to go and she was stumbling about like she did whenever she got nervous over something. “I doubted that your mother volunteered me, at least directly. I assumed that she would mean that I’d have to take care of you and see that you didn’t get into trouble, someone has to anyway.”

He sat a bit closer to her and patted her head gently, “I don’t like people. You, I like. You aren’t as troublesome as some may think. Took me a bit to realize that. Anywhoo, it’s their loss if they don’t.” Perhaps for the first time in a long while, Hendrix smiled at her. As awkward as it was, it wasn’t forced but just something he wasn’t used to. After Eldora had dropped him off at her place, he simply didn’t leave and she hadn’t thrown him out. He didn’t get in her way and she didn’t boss him around; he would be the company that she could speak to and she would invent things that fascinate him so. It was strange to think that two individuals that seemed to have nothing in common but they could co-exist well. To think that he wasn’t satisfied with that seemed ludicrous. His hand traveled from the top of Marin’s head to the side of her face. “I’m not leaving until you want me to.”