distant showers [c]

It was only when they reached Maribelle's apartment that Valerian asked himself why they didn't just take a bus or cab or something. It would have saved a lot of time and they wouldn't be soaked to the bone, but that was neither here nor there. He'd just take a cab home.

Soon enough her apartment door was open and she led him in, looping her arm through his again. He followed her in, closing his umbrella and shaking the water out before entering the dry, warm apartment, propping the umbrella against the wall.

Sighing, he pulled away from her a bit to take off his rain jacket. Thankfully he wasn't completely soaked, and his torso was basically dry; his legs were a bit wet but it was nothing bad. Unsure if he should take off his shoes or not he simply waited for Maribelle to lead him farther in. He was ready for it, too - he couldn't get his mind off that Earl Grey.

@maribelle

Seeing her take off her shoes, Valerian followed suit and left his boots by the door. Making sure not to walk through any water with his socks (because wet socks are obviously the worst thing in the world) he followed her to the kitchen.

She invited him to take a seat but he opted to stand, not wanting to get any of her furniture wet. Now he really wished he was at home so he could change into something dry. If they were at his place he could let her borrow some of his clothes because she would surely fit into his clothes better than he would fit into hers-

Wait, no. Why was he thinking about things like that? Maribelle would certainly not be in his apartment wearing his clothes any time soon, though it was a tempting thought to think of her in one of his t-shirts and only in a t-shirt.

Looking away a little as he tried to clear his apparently "overly active" imagination, he drummed his fingers on the countertop. Unsure of what to do, he looked around the place. It was a quaint apartment, though it seemed to be small. Then again, his apartment wasn't that spacious either.

"Is there anything I can help with?" he finally asked, feeling ultimately very awkward about just standing around doing nothing.

@maribelle

She declined his offer to help, and he sighed a little. Unsure of what to do, he took one of the chocolates she offered him and ate it absentmindedly. It was decent, though he wasn't about to say anything negative about it, not after she was nice enough to make him tea. Really, it just tasted a little stale, nothing too bad.

"Thank you," he said a bit after the fact, sighing a little again. Just as he was wondering when the tea would be done so he could sip at something so he wouldn't have to talk, the kettle began to whistle and Maribelle started preparing the mugs of tea. He still felt bad about not helping, but she said she didn't need any help.

Soon enough he had the hot mug of tea in his hands and the familiar aroma of Earl Grey was wafting up toward his nose. Just holding the mug helped warm him up and when he took the first sip, it continued to warm him from the inside. It wasn't the best tea he'd ever had, but it definitely wasn't the worst - and it tasted even better since he was cold and wet.

"Thank you," he said again, and even reached for one of the chocolate snacks again. "You didn't have to go so far out of the way, so I thank you."

@maribelle

She handed him the mug and he accepted it gratefully, sipping at the warm tea, feeling it enter his system. Nothing warmed you up quite like a hot mug of tea, especially Earl Grey. Just drinking it reminded him of home, and he got lost in his thoughts for a little while.

He glanced up as she spoke again, shrugging. While it was out of the way for him to go this far, it wasn't horrible, he supposed. There were worse ways to spend and afternoon. What was the most frustrating is that neither of them really thought to just call a cab to her house, but he supposed that now he knew this woman a little better, if that was any consolation.

For a while he sipped the tea in silence, but that was a little uncomfortable. He wanted to know more about her, Valerian supposed, but he wasn't quite sure how to ask. He had never been good with this sort of thing, so he stayed quiet and hoped that maybe she would strike up the conversation.

@maribelle

Glancing up at her as she spoke, he wanted to sigh a little. Small talk was not his strong suit, and he really didn't want to talk about such meaningless things. Then again, he didn't know what to really talk about and he certainly didn't want to sit here in complete silence, contrary to popular belief.

"Favorite color?" he repeated, taking a drink of his tea. Colors weren't really his strong suit. He didn't know how to wear them very well and he didn't own a lot of colorful clothes, just the monochrome that he basically wore all the time unless forced to otherwise.

"Black," he said, though he was fully aware that it was more of a shade than a color. "What is yours?"

@maribelle

The awkwardness between them was almost tangible, but it wasn't bad. Definitely not the worst he'd ever experienced, so there was that. Plus this girl was rather nice and it would be a lie if he were to say he wasn't the least bit interested in her. Talking wasn't so bad, even though he really wasn't excited about this small talk.

"Sky blue is a nice color as well," he responded with a nod. Though he didn't wear much color, if he had to pick something, it would be blue. Maybe red, but blue was a good color as well. Valerian decided it would be best if he didn't mention that he'd prefer a navy blue over a brighter and lighter blue, however.

A smirk tugged on his lips with her last comment. She blurted it out like she was trying to cover something up, but nothing she'd said was really all that bad.

"It's also quite slimming," he said extremely seriously as he took another sip of his tea.

@maribelle

"Isn't it obvious?" he replied, playing along with what she had to say. He wasn't that playful of a person but he also wanted to talk to her, so he played along. Besides, what fun would it be if he just sat there and was all brooding like usual?

"You don't even want to know what I look like underneath the clothes," he said, blurting it out before he really thought about what he was saying, nevermind the fact that just a bit ago he was thinking about Maribelle wearing one of his t-shirts and only his t-shirt earlier. It was like he couldn't get his head out of the gutter.

"Erm, anyways," he said a bit awkwardly, taking a gulp of tea to occupy himself so he didn't say anything stupid once more. "Are you from Nova Athenis...?"

@maribelle