I had, in one way or another, managed to return- almost, to my pre-Kat time schedule. Without her well-meaning and yet often constant attempts to wake me up in the morning and coerce me into bed at a reasonable time of night I had retaken up sleeping almost entirely throughout the day, dragging myself from bed at two or three in the afternoon before spending most of the night upon the streets. There was, however, something decidedly less enjoyable about moving from bar to bar or club to club when the entire, well, let us call it 'menu' was off limits. Present or not I am entirely sure the girlfriend status I had afforded my female companion assured her that no matter how many women I met or even flirted with- anything beyond that was entirely off the table. I've never really done the relationship thing before, at least not until now and I didn't.....want to mess it up. So I'd taken to merely wandering about at night, enjoying the company of any women willing to be enjoyed- my old talents still entirely present it would seem and yet I never took a single one home. I haven't done- for four months. I haven't slept with anyone in four months. It is a record I never truly believed I would set and one I hoped never to actually break. I'm not going to lie, it is very near...torturous and yet what else can I do but wait for her to come home? Sometimes I am inclined to wish my moral code was a little less....moral then it apparently was. It never has been tested before, at least not in this capacity and yet while I was rather proud of my efforts on one hand- on the other I have taken so many cold showers I'd be surprised if I didn't actually suffer from frostbite.

One more week. It was always one more week every time she called. She never could tell me where she was going or what she was doing. Council business, apparently. Azrael too having conveniently made himself scarce any time I tried to ask after exactly where Kat was. I could have tracked her myself, I suppose and yet the security risk was enough to see a halt on that plan. If something happened to her because of me, well, I'm not entirely sure I'm the sort of person who handles guilt with grace. I rolled over within my bed once more, charcoal sheets pulled upward, it could hardly be passed one, that gave me at least another two hours to keep sleeping. I was aware, vaguely, of someone within my room and yet I'd become entirely used to the maid cleaning up around me. I even had boxer shorts and a shirt on, fortunately for her, this time. One incident of her coming into my room on a rather hot day was quite enough. My assurance that it was just the maid saw sleep wash back over me once more. At least until someone started screaming.

Hunter reflexes, it seems, are not something I lack even despite the fact they never seem to actually be useful when I require them. Here and now however I managed to simultaneously sit up and launch myself out of bed all at once. Well â€"almost. I did manage to become so entirely entangled within my own sheets during my panic that my efforts to get out of bed and away from the screaming thing that was attacking me resulted in my crashing in a tangled heap out of the side of the bed, my free hand managing to have grasped the reading light from the bedside table in the same motion. As if some ridiculous part of myself actually thought it might be a viable weapon. In the end one leg was still firmly ensnared within the sheets atop my bed, the rest of my form tangled upon the floor with a light in my left hand, blue gold eyes blinking against the gloom in some vague effort to make out the figure seated there- one hand running through the tousled haphazard golden brown of my hair.

"Kat?"

Alright, so it wasn't any sort of glorious first words moment, my mind taking several seconds longer then my eyes to actually register that she was sitting before me. I felt my features shift then, slowly, easily, a smile gently working it's way onto my lips. I managed, somehow, to detangle myself from my own sheets- returning the light to its proper place before easing my way back onto the bed. It was easy, then, to draw her towards me, very near pulling her onto my lap before bringing my lips to her own. That, I am entirely sure, said everything that needed to be said for this one moment alone. I drew back from her at last, teeth grazing her lower lip ever so slightly, if only to let the taste linger a moment longer, my voice barely a whisper now.

"God how I missed you."

k o h l
so you want to play with magic?