I was amused by her teasing me, something that caused me to smirk a bit and realize just how odd it must sound. Aidan had always been a sort of..achilles heal in my life I suppose. Which is probably why I avoided bits of my life coming together, such as Yejide and him meeting...but I felt secure in it now. Aidan, for all his shortcomings and lack of judgement...was particularly good at keeping me from mass execution when I went through periods of my life where blood lust had been my only driving force. Though her remark of my "being good" was partly laughable, I let it slide. "I don't do Covens anymore in truth, but here...it's a better idea to have some sort of connection." I'm also a coward... Ah, the mind has a way of betraying you like a spiteful child. Fear had always been a keen companion my entire life. Fear of death, fear of failure, fear of loss...the list went on and I had always battled it with an obsession for control, something that was obvious as I tried to harness the assumed danger that I worried had surrounded my dear friend.

I tried to listen to her words carefully, but I felt agitated at her seeming to brush the danger off. I didn't know her brother personally, and I never trusted something I didn't know. Her touch seemed to calm me instantly, my brow relaxing into a more reserved expression, though my mind still raced. It was like she'd become an extension of me I realized, my fears now had become projected onto her. I thought briefly that I'd like to meet her brother, but that thought dissipated as soon as it had formed. No. No more. I didn't want anyone else to know me, no one else should ever have this effect on me. Her words are audible and yet I have to strain to hear them, squinting slightly to focus on her gentle face, to center myself again and I found that it helped to cease the cacophony of thoughts. Her words finished in an unexpected turn...protect me? My mind tried to connect that idea to something familiar, and like some impish lost boy I saw a face I had not seen pass through my thoughts in well over a century, the only person who had ever spoken that similar sentiment, and destruction had found her too.

It's funny truly, we were bonded by something so inseparable that despite our being vastly different, we shared a sort of passion that comes with feeling too much in a world that thrilled in using it to break you. Yet she seemed to have made it out of the fire unscathed, or at least she played the smile better than I did. She's just younger...it'll catch up to her. I inhaled and closed my eyes a moment, and as the blue of my eyes returned to look at her, I smiled. I realized I'd been mostly silent, but she would be used to that...she knew it took time for me to process where I was going, and that unspoken understanding helped to move it all along. "I'm going to hold you to that." A pointed at her teasingly and turned to look out over the green park and then back to her, holding my hand out. "Come, I think you'll like the little stream." I made towards the center of the park slowly, leaning heavier on my cane than I had, the night weighing down on me in a way I hadn't felt in a long while. As we came to the stream I lead us to a stone bridgeway that was open on all sides so you could sit and look down into the water freely. I did this, letting my cane slip to the ground, I eased myself down onto the stone and waited for Yejide to join me, my eyes searching the water for the little fish that bobbed up catching insects, they were somewhat amusing to watch.