[FIN] Hard to Handle

[Suudonym]

The sudden emphasis in her voice surprised him, and he removed his hand from his forehead and raised his eyes enough to regard her. He listened earnestly to what she said, and though he understood the sentiments, he still felt bad for being a cause for concern in a time when there was really enough to be concerned about already. Nonetheless, he offered a nod to demonstrate his comprehension.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Sera will make it through this..." She said finally after a length of silence.
"And we'll go see if we can see her tomorrow, or every day till we can. for now though, lets just try and get through tonight." She glanced out at the rain. "and hopefully the rain will end before the store closes."  

[Suudonym]

He gave a nod and a murmured "yeah," steadying and silencing distress and misery and self-deprecation. His disposition remained generally downcast and reticent as evening wore on into night, one of the store's clerks eventually approaching the pair to warn them that closing time was near. The driving downpour had lightened a bit but showed no signs of subsiding in full, and gradually other customers who had come seeking shelter scurried out into the rain, many borrowing sales bags to employ as makeshift umbrellas.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie had produced a pink pen out of somewhere, as time had gone on she had spent much of it doodling or writing various things on the page of the book.

When they were warned about closing time, Rosie had gotten to her feet, and started packing things away into her bag.
"... well," She spoke, pausing to glance up at the window that was still raining. "We avoided it for this long."
Hugging the bag to her chest, with her jacket draped over it, Rosie glanced over at Luke, "My house isn't too far from here, I guess we won't have much choice in getting wet though." She explained looking apologetic.  

[Suudonym]

He breathed a light sigh; honestly speaking, getting rained on was kind of depressing, but it wasn't the worst thing in the world and it was far from the worst of his worries at the moment. He responded to the suggestion with an absence of disappointment, assenting with a quiet "okay" and following as they set forth into the rain.  

[Blood_Goddess]

After a certain point there was really no reason to be too concerned with how wet one was getting.
Rosie was certain that by the time they go anywhere now it would just be too late.
The rain was cold, hard, and completely soaked anyone who chose to walk in it.
With her arms wrapped firmly around her bag, bowed forward a little over it as she pushed on.

Eventually they would reach Rosie's house, the building standing lit from the outside, as if to welcome her home, with a healthy yard and blooming garden set off to the side of the building.
Hurrying up the steps, under the extended room over the front door, Rosie let out a relived sight,
"Oh thank goodness" shaking her hand out to get the water off,  

[Suudonym]

Luke walked with his head down, reaching up occasionally for the futile effort of brushing water from his face. Though it was only an annoying inconvenience, it was still a relief to be freed of the onslaught, and he breathed a small sigh as he flicked water from his arms and pushed dripping hair back from his face.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Shaking the jacket off of her bag she looked up at Luke when he joined her out of the rain.
"Come on in." she said reaching out for the door handle to check if the door was unlocked.
It opened up and she pushed it inward, stepping into the entryway of the much warmer house. The smell of something cookie from the kitchen, and the noise of the TV from the living room across from it.

Rosie stopped in the entryway, keeping the door open to let Luke in.

From the Kitchen, a women with brown hair pulled back in a pony tail leaned back from around the corner, a glass of wine in her hands. Brown eyes blinked as she spotted the two.
"Oh my gosh you're soaking!" She gasped "Did you two walk here?"

"Yes.' Rosie replied, arching her eyebrows. "Is Evan there?"
A moment later and a man with dark blond hair stepped out next to the women, his eyebrows arching as well when he saw the soaked people. "Rosie, What?"

"Sorry Evan can you get us some towels?" Rosie asked, apologetically, as the surprised looks the two were giving them.

"Mmm!" The women put a hand on Evan's chest to stop him, taking a drink from her wine before handing him the glass "Its okay I'll do it." She smiled at Rosie and the boy that was with her before starting down the hall and up the steps.

"Thanks Alex." Rosie said, then proceeded to removing her boots.

Evan, the tall jock looking man with the same color eyes as his cousin, stepped over to them, holding Alex's glass in his hand.
"So, who's this?" the large jock asked looking over to red head with Rosie with a gentle curiosity

Rosie blinked, looking up, before she straightened up. "Oh! This is Luke."

"Luke! Oh hey, so you're Luke." He burst, It seemed he was now putting a face to a name he had heard before apparently. "I'm Evan, one of Rosie's Cousins." He offered.  

[Suudonym]

Luke followed Rosie inside cautiously, greeted by an environment that seemed strangely foreign compared to the stiff formality of the manor in Grande Ile and the quiet of his own apartment. A natural curiosity led his eyes cursorily across their immediate surroundings, though the sound of someone speaking trained his attention towards the source. He quietly watched the woman pass and disappear, then followed Rosie's example and stepped out of sopping shoes, wondering in passing bemusement if he would ever get them quite dry again.

He refocused on realizing that they were again being spoken to, straightening his posture slightly at his introduction, though the smile he gave was undeniably forced. "Evan," he repeated the name, offering a hand on reflex, "nice to meet you."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Nice to meet you too, finally really, Rosie's talked about you. So did you two get stranded out in the rain?"

Rosie blushed a little, setting her bag down next to her boots,
She didn't have to reply though, since Alex had turned down the steps a moment later with two towels.
"Here you go sweety." she tossed one to each of them, then stepped back over next to Evan.

"Thank you." Rosie said, the towel being draped over her head, trying to at least stop the dripping so she wouldn't worry so much about entering the house.

"You have good timing though, Rodney was saying its supposed to get worse later, going to stay that way all night it looks like." Evan told the two, while heading back to the kitchen as a timer went off.

Rosie lifted her head still half burried under the towel and glanced over at Luke.
"That's going to make it hard to get back to your place." she realized.  

[Suudonym]

Luke gave a word of thanks in exchange for the offered towel, blotting moisture from his shirt and hair. The prospect of the weather sustaining, even worsening, was a vaguely frustrating one, but the quietly frowning despondency that came into his expression was more of a result of the reminder that he would eventually need to depart from Rosie's company; he had yet to coerce his irrational anxiety to subside. Not wanting to display that blatant irrationality, though, he responded with a great reluctance, "It'll probably be fine."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie shook her head, pulling the towel off of it as she did so, and draping it around her shoulders instead,
"You can stay here if you want to." she offered instead "That would make me feel more comfortable then you walking home alone in that weather."  

[Suudonym]

He blinked, then inclined his gaze downward, hesitant. "Would that be okay?" It felt a bit like the role of the uninvited guest, imposing unexpectedly and given refuge out of polite obligation. Though honestly… it was a much more appealing option than going home and being alone with his worry.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Of course." She answered as if it was a clear choice, reaching down to pick her bag up, holding it carefully in case it dripped, though thankfully the sweater had taken the brunt of the weather.
"We'll get dried off, if you're okay borrowing some of my cousin's clothes, I'll ask him."  

[Suudonym]

"Okay," he said, still lingeringly unsure but as willing to accept as Rosie was to offer. "That's fine. Thank you." Somehow it was a great relief.