Warning signs

LOCATION | Sapphire Creek Garden; Archie & Elenora's apartment
DATE | Thursday 3th of March 2022
TIME | Afternoon
ATTIRE | Link
TOPIC FOR | @Archibald
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She had gotten Reginald to promise her to be the one telling her brothers about this finding. But Mariella had also chosen to wait till this afternoon, after having been with her sisters, she had taken the walk towards Leon's family's mansion, met him half way there. It wasn't like she wasn't easy to read when something was bothering her or confusing, and they had talked a little about the whole thing. But also just managed to focus on something else for the rest of the night and most part of the day. Mariella had asked Elias for the favor of getting her to the apartment building, before giving Leon a kiss goodbye and entered the door, giving them a soft wave before the door closed again. Mariella took a deeper breath in and walked down the hall to find Archie and Elenora's door, and knocked on it. Now she didn't even know if they were home, but she did have a key for the times she had swung by after work or to drop something off. So, if they weren't home she would just lock herself in and wait. But she did hear someone approach the door.

Elenora was just on her way out of the door when someone knocked on it. Which first she found odd because no one had been calling on the door to the building, but opened the door seeing Mariella. "Honey, Ella is here," she called letting Mariella inside. "Sorry, I'm have to go, but I will be back with some dinner in a few hours time," Elenora excused herself, blowing a little kiss towards Archie, since she already had told her goodbyes, and then left. After all she was trying to find out what the heck Julianne was up to, and it was far from an easy task. Mariella gave Archie a big smile after the closed. "Sorry for coming unannounced," she chuckled a little bit before walking over and gave him a warm hug, holding it a little longer, feeling like she just needed it.

Maybe he hadn’t really been all that in touch with his family after the wedding. Of course, he had come over with Elenora when they had been invited. But it was clear that Archie was working on something, it was always like he was losing track of time and place. And opening your own restaurant was something that had been a lifelong dream, and he needed it to be perfect. It was something that would make them independent, something their children could take part off. He dreamt about how it would go in generations, even though he could know live forever, there was still something about building a new legacy that wasn’t about death that really spoke to him.

Sitting in his office he was putting the final touches on the last recipes that he had been making, when someone knocked on the door. He got up, but Elenora was faster and there was his sister. A bright smile formed over his head, not really caring about the fact that he was wearing nothing but a pair of dark grey sweats, and a black t-shirt. He waved and blinked towards Elenora as she blew him a kiss.
“Well, you are always welcome, unannounced or not” he chuckled, pulling her into a warm hug before he let go of her again, and walked towards the kitchen. “Tea or coffee?” he asked, when he put the kettle on and looked towards her with a small smile.

Well, Mariella was perhaps the one of them all who kept most in touch with all of her brothers. But it was fairly easy for her since she worked in the middle of the city, and she also had found her way to come by with some baked goods every now and then to know what Archie was up to. Who could blame you when you once had lost your best friend? You wanted to be a part of as much as possible, even if they did have their own life on the side, the good thing was, now Mariella had her own life as well that wasn't just helping Nigel with the house and everything. And it had been a process after moving from home to here, because many things were different and the events, bigger than she had imagined. "Coffee please, you know what they say, eternal sunshine of the caffeinated mind," she chuckled a little bit. Even if she had been drinking a lot of coffee today, or well till Leon had cut her off - even though Flora thought they hadn't been drinking that much coffee.

Mariella followed her brother to the kitchen and leaned her hip a little against the corner. "So, how is the whole thing going?" She asked, knowing it had been a while since she had really been over, last month had been very busy after all. And then with the whole Theo situation, then Julianne - it just stirred the surface. She took a deeper breath in and massaged her forehead a little bit, not because it was hurting but mainly just the thousand thoughts were just about a lot.

He couldn’t help but laugh when she told him, that eternal sunshine came from the caffeinated mind. Or was it the road too? Depended on how you decided to interpret the little quote that she had given him. He pulled down two cups and got to work making them some coffee.
“It’s coming together” he hummed, looking up from the teaspoon filled with instant coffee and looked at her. “But I’m guessing you’re not here to ask me how my restaurant dream is going, but rather have something else on your mind, that you would like to discuss with me, before you take it to Nigel, or Jamie for that matter?” he asked, even though he had been gone for a while, he had been the one staying most at home. He had gone out on hunts with his brothers, but while they had strayed from the family, he had stayed in Nepal, only to go when he visited Elenora. It gave him a little better knowledge in figuring out just what was going on behind that pretty forehead of hers.

Mariella chuckled a little, "maybe - not that I wouldn't like to hear about it, but I do come with ulterior motives," she shook her head a little bit before crossing her arms a little bit loose, then took a deeper breath in, perhaps first now realizing how heavy everything about the conversation Yesterday had been. "I met my biological father Yesterday," she started out, weird saying those words out loud, well it had been even weirder saying it the first time, but it didn't really change when you said them to your brother. Now, compared to her sister, she had grown up with Archie and the others, they were the only people she had memories of being her family. She had never looked for others or had reason to, and suddenly her entire world had been shaken up when she had met Ayah back early September. It was like putting spice on her entire identity and just hope you liked the flavor. Mariella sighed a little bit, not wanting to give of any signs of her being completely fond about the situation. Well, everyone knew Juniper couldn't remember. "Remember when dad told about how he was hunting phoenixes back like a long time ago. Coming down to these phoenix brothers, then never really let us discuss it again? Turnes out one of them is my father, so - master criminal is in my genes, would you look at that," she sighed a little bit and took a deeper breath in. "But its just a top of the iceberg, there is more - and I'm pretty sure I'm inches from losing my mind," she sighed a little bit again.

He gave her an easy smile, letting her know that he didn’t mind that she came with ulterior motives. Mostly because it meant that he was still of value to her. No, that sounded wrong now that the thought had turned in his head, but he was glad that she despite having found her mother and her birth sisters, still found the time and needed to seek advice from the family that she had grown up with. No matter how twisted that might have been in the end.
His eyes widened a little as he quickly looked up from the second cup, he was putting coffee in. “Okay, that’s –“ he pressed his brows together, how did you react to that, especially with how she looked at him right now? That it was great, bad, something? He decided not to say anything and put down the spoon in the jar and then packed the coffee away, waiting for her to continue with her tale of what had happened yesterday.
But instead, she asked him, if he remembered how their father had been hunting phoenixes. He did remember, because it was one of those stories that came up when ever he had been a little tipsy. Which happened on occasion.
He widened his arms and used his hand to show her that she should walk into his arms again so he could give her another hug. “We choose our one family Firebug, we don’t have to be family with those that raised us, or the people that we share blood with, we find those that makes us happy, that is family” he hummed, pulling her a little closer and made sure that she for a moment felt secure in his arms.

Mariella walked into his arms again, closing her arms around him to take a deeper breath in. Well, she did know this. Family was far beyond just blood, she had learned that from a young age, when she had discovered that well, she wasn't related to her family by blood. It had been rather shocking back then, but it had never changed how they had seen her or how she had seen them. "You just say that because you are rather fond of being stuck with me," she mumbled against his chest. Mariella took a deeper breath in, her brothers would always be her brothers, they would always be the people that she would seek out first if something was up. Even if the thought at a point had come where she knew Juniper, Hope and Ayah would live forever, so one day she wouldn't be alone. Because that thought had scared her a lot in the past, being alone once her brother had gotten old and grey, one day they wouldn't be here anymore. But Archie had come back an angel. The two of them were now stuck together, which she found selfishly enough comfort in. "Then wait till you hear about my crazy aunt who Hope described as being a wanna be Rebekah - who is the reason why they all actually tried to get away from Wonderland, and her I quote Hope again 'nasty son' who is my cousin and oh boy - the thought of them just finding way to Athena to get on with Acacia's jealousy quest - I think I will have a manic episode or at least go mental," she still kept herself close to Archie. Because even if Mariella chose not to have part of Francis and Acacia's life, who was to say they picked the same choice? What if they were only going to cause her trouble? "But I love you. Always, even if I'm going mental."

Archie chuckled as she mentioned that he was fond of her or being stuck with her. He shook his head a little and placed his cheek against her hair. “You’ve spent too much time with Jamie and Nigel” he mumbled “but yes, luckily I’m rather fond of being stuck with you” he agreed, because it was the truth.
“A crazy aunt?” he asked, when she started speaking again, then pressing his lips together when she kept explaining, now at this point it didn’t really surprise him, even though his eyes got a little wider. Because how could it not? It seemed that whenever they got past one problem, another one seemed to come just beyond the hill. Then he shook his head again, when she told him that she would have a manic episode or go metal. “I feel so honored, that you would still love me, if you became crazy” he laughed then pulling a little out of the hug and looked at her. “But seriously, if you become crazy, lose my number” he closed his eyes nodding, even though he wasn’t serious at all. “Besides, I think Leon will help with that problem, about you going mental of course, have no idea how he would even fix a crazy aunt or cousin” he mumbled licking his lips.

She chuckled, well she couldn't really disagree on having spent much time with Nigel nor Jamie at this point. It felt good at least getting it off her chest, even if she had just spoken to Leon about all of it, also because she knew if she just kept it to herself then she would explode - and lucky for everyone, she did know when to keep something to herself and when it was best to share. At least most of the time. Because she also had a fear of her stuff being too much,  that she could be too much to handle. And she could always go out on a spiral with Archie without completely losing it, because he managed to have a hold on her no matter how much she could ramble out. The laugh made her chuckle a little bit an exhale, shaking her head a little bit followed by a classic eye roll - maybe she had spent too much time with Nigel and Jamie. Well, Archie was of course right in case of her actually going insane Leon could help with that, he was helping with that also without realizing it. "Well, let's just hope they are still in Wonderland doing I don't even know what, something that keep them out of our hair," she breathed out. You couldn't really fix an issue till you knew if there would be an issue or the level of it. And she just needed to get her thought back to the realistic parts and not the parts that overthought every single little thing.

"It's just with our luck, I wouldn't be surprised if its on the headlines of next months news paper," then taking a step back out of the embrace and ran her hand through her hair. "But Juniper doesn't remember any of it, and Hope is rather sceptic on the matter about what it would change to let her know - and I don't know, we are used to get all the information we need and act from that, how can Juniper even make the right decision about anything if she doesn't know all her cards?" Mariella liked knowing as much as possible, but you couldn't really have a good look at your enemy or potential threat if you were blindsided because you couldn't remember. And if Acacia had forced Juniper and Francis to forget her and everything, didn't that make her a bigger threat than to just ignore? Mariella breathed out again and crossed her arms a little. "I don't really have a lot to say in the matter, I don't have any emotional ties to remember about any of it you know - I'm just in the room," she shrug a little bit. Ayah did have some memory, but Hope was the one who recalled most about everything.

“Don’t even say that out loud” he let go of her, took some salt and threw over his shoulder and then knocked underneath he wooden countertop. “You know, now you said it, it’s going to happen!” he laughed about his own silliness, even though there was a real change that it actually would happen He wouldn’t even put it past the world now, throwing that into the mix of everything else that was going on right now. He nodded, when she herself mentioned that with their luck it would be on the headlines on the next month’s newspaper.
His eyes widened though when she added the part about Juniper not remembering. Now that sounded, tricky if not rather troublesome. In a way he could understand why Hope meant that it would change her if she knew.

“Hmm” he hummed, thinking it over, as he walked over to take out the milk for their coffee and walked back to pour it in the cup and then pushed it towards her. “Well, I understand why both of you think that I didn’t remember anything at first” he told her with a smaller smile “there are still things that I don’t quite remember, and I think, that in that way Hope is very correct that there might be things in here” he let his finger point towards his forehead before he let his hand glide around the warm cup. “that could very well change some things, trauma isn’t something to trifle with, and if there is a lot of it connected to these memories, who is to say how it will change her?” he asked with a small smile “even if you are correct and it could end up making things worse, if she has no idea what might be coming for her” he shrugged letting out a sigh “when it comes down to it, there is only one that can make the discission of what is going on, and that is the person with the memories that they can’t remember” he added licking his lips before he took a sip of his coffee.

Mariella listened even if she knew how things were, even if she knew it was Juniper's choice when it came down to it. They couldn't force her to remember anything and no matter the choice there would be something to lose. Mariella had unlike her sisters very little to lose. Mariella picked up the coffee and took a sip of it and closed her eyes for a second. "I do know that, it's just hard. Being in a room with them sometimes, because they are all so inflicted and confused, hurt and wounded by it as it - and everything in between, just making me go crazy not being able to do something or anything really," she sat ran a hand through her red curls and let out a sigh. "I guess all I can do is sit down and let them figure it out amongst themselves and hope that they will actually start speaking about the things that are bothering them up," she knew they knew of her powers. But sometimes people didn't understand just how far her powers went, even if she tried to explain it. Sometimes she was sure her brothers didn't completely understand them either, but how would anyone who hadn't been exposed to them know? "But you reckon Nigel or Jamie have something on the Phoenix brothers? Or Nora maybe, her and her fancy tools - just for research and all, or maybe she knows how to see if there is traces on dear old auntie Acacia," she knew it would ease her mind a little to find out all she could. And one thing D'Avalos always had been great at was finding their targets, using their magical systems. "Not that I want to drag you all into this for the sake of my chaotic head, it was just a thought," she took another thoughtful sip of her coffee.

He understood, or no, he didn’t really. Because he didn’t have the abilities that Mariella had, to know the feelings that was roaring through a room. But he could imagine just how hurt a woman like Hope would be, or how confused Juniper had to feel when it came to the fact that she had three kids, and she couldn’t remember any of them, nor the life that she had led with them. He shrugged “or you use this opportunity to learn how to be in a room where tension is high, and let yourself get affected by it” he lifted his finger and pointed towards her with a small smile forming over his lips. It might not be much help, but it was at least something. Then it wouldn’t be so hard to walk down a path of people, because everyone had feelings that they dealt with. At least with family, you had someone close by that would be there to help you if it became to much.
He narrowed his eyes, thinking, as she asked if he thought Nigel or Jamie maybe knew about the phoenix brothers, he had only heard urban legends himself, but if anyone knew it would be them. “Nora might know some things as well, sure, but it wouldn’t hurt asking Jamie and Nigel as well” he then laughed when she apologized for dragging him into it. “You are always welcome here to vent Firebug, you know that” he mumbled taking a sip of his coffee.

"And there I thought I had experience enough throughout the experiences where I've watched you sit and just beg for Jamie not to embarrass you," she chuckled a little. Well, Jamie could and would embarrass all of them, like he was paid for it, point of having him as a brother. Not that she hadn't dealt with tension before, Jamie had been a living ball of tension after he had lost McKenna, the kids and then they had lost Archie - if she could handle Jamie in that state, Mariella felt like she could take over the world. The difference were this part of the world had different set of energies, it was more magical and her old systems didn't tab as naturally into it. But they did now, it had just taken her some time to figure them out.

She nodded a bit when he said Nora might know something, and it wouldn't hut to ask Nigel and Jamie as well. Either way all of the parts would get to know about this crazy family history of hers, and Mariella wasn't sure how deep she wanted to dig. But knowing all the facts was something Nigel had coded into her mind a long time ago, "I know -" she took a deeper breath in and then another sip of his coffee. "So, now that I have expressed my troubles, you can tell what the latest recipe you've been working on is," she pointed towards her older brother with a warmer smile on her lips.

Archie laughed when she brought up Jamie and his relationship. To be fair, it was very normal big and little brother stuff. Especially with him being the youngest brother. “Well, one can never have too much experience” he decided to say, because in a way that was true. The day you felt like you didn’t have any more to learn, was the day that you had lost a passion for something. One could always be better or learn something new. Because the world was always changing, which was what made it so beautiful. If you could just hold on to that feeling, things would be alright. He was sure of it. Even with everything that happened to them, or to those they loved. They would get passed it, with knowing that nothing stayed the same forever.

“Ah! Yes, well, I would offer to make it for you, but I don’t think I have the ingredients and besides, wouldn’t want to spoil your appetite for whatever Elenora is going to bring with her home” he gave her a smile “But I can show you!” he walked into the study he had been sitting in before Mariella had come by. He took his scribbled notes and walked into the kitchen and placed them on the kitchen island. “Well there is more or less an entire menu here, I’m going Nordic and seasonal, whatever is the freshest is what we’ll serve” he explained, letting her look at his ideas as he walked over and grabbed a cup of coffee and sipped from it.

"I will save the offer for later then," she pointed towards him before she followed him to the study as he walked towards it. It was still funny to her that Archie and Nora were staying in this apartment, but it was nice, it became more and more them with every single day. Mariella spun around back to the kitchen as he placed his scribbled notes on the kitchen island. Mariella placed the cup of coffee down, and picked some of the notes up, letting her eyes run over them as he explained his vision, "it all sounds so good," she confessed still letting her eyes read ever single little detail. Mariella had always believed in Archie's dreams and visions on this matter, and she was just so happy that he finally and actually got a chance to get a shot at the things he wanted. "Let me know if you need a taste tester again, I'm always available when it comes to your cooking," she pointed out with a light chuckle.

He nodded with a bright smile, as she told him that she would save his offer. If anything, he loved making food, so he would gladly make her all the dishes that she wanted to taste. Then he laughed when she told him that he should let her know if she needed a taste tester “bring that boyfriend of yours, and you got yourself a deal” he said with a sneaky smile, wanting to get to know this new guy that was taking most of Mariella’s time these days. Which, if he was being honest made him truly happy. Especially after the disaster of relationships that Mariella had been through, even though it had made her stronger and the person that she was today. It still wasn’t something that you wished for your little sister. When all that you really truly wanted was to make sure nothing hurt her. Something that he hadn’t been able to do while he had been in heaven recovering from being reborn.
“I heard from Nigel, that Nathaniel is back as well?” he said with a slower voice, taking a sip from his coffee, looking at her giving her a small smile, knowing how that had been something that as well had shaped Mariella to be the woman that she was today.

"Deal," she replied with a warmer smile, and a nod to confirm the deal. Also knowing Nigel was the one of her brothers who had seen and talked to Leon the most, well since she after all did stay at Nigel's when she wasn't over spending her time with Leon. Then Archie mentioned Nathaniel which just by an inch did catch her off guard. "Yeah, he has been turned into a warlock on his trip across the world," she knew Nigel perhaps had briefed Archie on that, and it wasn't what Archie perhaps or most likely wanted from asking her about him. "I, everyone back home thought he was dead, you know his brothers barely shed a tear -" she knew he knew, because she had been pretty angry about it when it had happened. Just because he hadn't been evolved human like the rest of them. "But I'm just happy he isn't dead, and that he is happy now, so -" Mariella made a small shrug, it was true though. Besides she was happy, if not happier than ever, finally actually just feeling like she was her own person.

Archie nodded slowly as Mariella spoke about the fact that he had been turned into a warlock. Nigel had said as much, even though it was fair to assume that he hadn’t. Nigel had always been a weird guy when it came to information, sometimes he only gave what he thought was necessary. Which wasn’t always lining up with what others felt was needed to be conveyed. But this time it seemed like his brother hadn’t really left anything unsaid.
He pulled his lip a little back, when Mariella spoke about the fact that his brothers hadn’t mourned the fact that Nathaniel was thought dead.
“As long as he is happy, then I’m sure things will turn out fine” he said motioning that they should go over to the living area and sit down in the couch, because it was far more comfortable than standing here by the kitchen counter. “Let just hope that they won’t be showing up here just like Theo and our father” he whispered, almost cursing himself for saying out loud, because then it would sorely happen. Just like everything else that seemed to come crashing down all the same. "something else entirely, how is it going with Jamie and the daughter of his? Is she settling in at his and Sariel's place?"

Even if her and Nathaniel's relationship on the edges had been good, headed towards the ending it had become more tragic by the day. Perhaps it was the whole reason why she no longer could stand people keeping secrets from her, because she knew whenever people did so, and there was nothing worse than looking into someone's eyes, knowing they were lying to you. What had been worse in the case of Nathaniel was him being a telepath and her the empath they always more or less knew how the other one had been feeling or was thinking. So, for him to still despite of that had been carrying around that secret that he needed to leave. Or what perhaps had hurt the most was that he hadn't tried to talk his parents out of it, there hadn't been any fight. It was just over suddenly. Reminding her the same of how Henry had lied to her. Mariella pushed the thought out of her head again, "yeah most of the time they do," she exhaled. "Wouldn't surprise me if Zach followed either of them blindly, I hadn't really thought about that till now -" Mariella hadn't even mentioned to Nathaniel that Theo or her father was around in the shadows.

Pushed back out of the train of thought that otherwise so gladly wanted to leave the station, she looked towards Archie again with the next question about Jamie and Jasmine. Oh yeah, well she had been sticking her head in a few times, not really been able to help herself. "Well, they are settling in. It's hard for him, but he is also very grateful - so, they are all just really getting to know each other," she replied with a soft nod. Mariella would know. "I swear if Theo comes by there again and messes that up for him, I will hunt him down myself," she sighed a little bit. Of course she had thought about it when it first had happened, to see if she could call Theo out. But she also knew Theo couldn't be found if he didn't want someone to find him, and unless he didn't mind her diving around in his emotion to understand why he had attacked Jamie - she understood why she was the last person he would want to see. But a lot had also happened since she last had spoken to Theo, she was her own person now. She felt like her own person now.

Archie nodded in agreement, most of the bothers from that family had always looked up to the Blanchard brothers. Mostly Nigel, even if there were two more there were older them him. But Nigel had always had that air around him, that you wanted to follow him to the end, which also was a thing that hit hard when the person you looked up to, suddenly didn’t see eye to eye and abandoned the former ideas. Either you kept following, or you came to resent him. Which was also a reason why Archie was a little on edge knowing that Theo was in town again. Especially after what he did to Jamie.
Archie pulled a small smile as Mariella told him that she would hunt Theo down, if he messed this up for him. “Promise me you won’t, at least not alone” he chuckled and gave her a small wink before he took the cup of coffee and took a small sip from it.

Mariella took a slightly deeper breath in, knowing that she would confront Theo if he made a choice to come after any of them again. And with the spiral she was going down at in this moment, well she just likely would just tell how she was feeling about the moves he had been making. "As if any of you would even give me the chance to get away with going alone," she raised her brow a little teasing. Also she was way to easy to read when she was upset, especially to Nigel and Archie who had spent most time calming her down again once she had been worked up because of her powers. But he could understand why everyone felt a bit uncomfortable with not knowing Theo's motive completely, which was also one of the reasons why Ella wanted to confront him, because if she could just get within reach maybe she could understand, maybe she would find a reason not to be angry at the choices Theo had made. She wanted to believe that there was a reason behind the action, because she knew this - this couldn't be all there was. Could it?

He matched her teasing look and a slight smile formed over his lips. He knew that some of the brothers, including himself had been rather protective when it came to Mariella. Maybe it was the fact that they had seen just how Jamie had always been treated by their father, despite the fact that their mother was a shapeshifter as well. Or was.
A small sigh left him as the smile slowly disappeared, he really wanted to stay positive about everything. Be the calm steady pillar that the others could lean against as the tide rush over them. But things weren’t really going as well as he had hoped them too. He looked towards Mariella, clearly thinking about if he should share his thoughts or not. Weighing the part of her feeling like things were becoming too much. Especially with all the drama that was going around with her biological family. “Nora and I have talked about trying for a baby” he mumbled, letting his thumb glide over the rim of the cup. “But, well, with everything that is going on, I don’t feel like I’m ready, at all” he looked up lifting one side of his lip before he looked down again. He wanted nothing more than to give the whole world to Elenora, but when it came to this, he wasn’t even sure he wanted kids. Which might have been something they should have talked about rushing into the marriage after he had gotten back. It was just - at the time, he didn’t want to waste another minute, and now he wasn’t even sure if he was the same man that he had been back then.

She only got to just narrow her eyes by an inch to the face he pulled, because Mariella knew the look rather well whenever he was weighing the thoughts, she mostly saw it whenever he tried to think about a new way of during a recipe or when thinking if he should say something or not. Mariella blinked a little letting the smile pull back up on her lips, it was a big step, and sometimes people did forget that both Archie and Elenora had suffered a lot in the past years. And with all the drama Mariella understood why reality and everything had to be kicking in harder. "I doubt she blames you for thinking that, you've both been through a lot - and everything that is going on, sure can't make the processing of that trauma easier on either of you," she empathized with him as she lifted her hand up, letting her fist softly touch against his arm, "but hey, whenever you guys are ready for that step. I will be very happy for you guys, always am - besides having the best aunt in the world right here, I mean - Mila has been giving me awards, just saying," she teased a little bit while escaping a small laugh. "But you guys also need to figure out who you are after the time you both lost. It has shaped both of you in ways you never imagined, but I'm sure you will figure everything out. If anyone can figure things like this out its the two of you."

Archie nodded. Now, it wasn’t because he thought that Nora would ever blame him for just taking a step back and let everything sink in, but it didn’t erase the horrible feeling of guilt that spread in his chest whenever they got intimate. Not that it was a problem, but it was the feeling of him not ever knowing if he could be able to raise a child, were the child’s mother might on day die. Which was another thing that he also had to face, as it was right now there would come a time, where he had to say goodbye to Elenora, because she was human, and he was not. At least not anymore. Maybe he was taking all of this a step to fast, because there were a lot of good years left, but it was hard to push the thoughts away as soon as the snowball started rolling, only growing bigger and more overwhelming for the days and weeks that had passed since he had come back to earth.
He laughed when Ella told him that Mila had given her rewards. He wouldn’t even start arguing against the fact that Mariella shouldn’t be a good aunt, because he knew that she was.
Then he nodded and let out a short breath of air “yeah you’re right, it’s just hard when you want to speed things ahead because you lost so much time, and on the other hand you just want to push the pause button on everything” he shrugged, knowing that most of all he just needed to sit down and talk with Elenora about this. But it was nice this, just having a moment to speak his thoughts out loud.

"Oh course I'm right," she said with a warmer smile playing on her lips. "Yeah I know - or not like you know, but yeah -" Mariella added and exhaled softly. Because a part of her had and wanted to spent so much time with Archie as she could because she was so afraid - at least in the beginning she had been scared that she would wake up one day and he would be gone. "It's terrifying isn't it, knowing that we live with another speed than the others," she knew it was. Because she had realized this sooner than Archie might have had to process it, or allowed himself to process it. Then there was the fact she knew, just how deep Elenora's love for Archie went, and how deep a hole losing him had created, "but it's Elenora we are talking about as well, remember that. She would find a way to spent eternity with you, there is no way she is giving on up that without a fight, we both know that," maybe she felt like she needed to vocalize it too. Also because she had, not meant to, but she had overheard Nora talking and asking Reginald questions about his immortality. Then of course there was no way Archie would let Nora do something she hadn't thought out, or something risky. Like what Aaron had done. Giving up one's mortal life also had to count for something, it meant that one day you would watch the people you loved live another life, growing older, and one day pass away. "But either way, you will always have me," she tried to at least be uplifting on that note. Knowing it was a rather heavy topic that they were swimming into, but she liked speaking about things like this, because it was nice getting stuff of both her chest and someone  else without her just having to feel that they were keeping something in. Mariella took a deeper breath in and exhaled a little bit, "I've missed our talks."