SABRINA & MEMINI : THE UPTOWN DISTRICT {FINISHED}

[Rad]

Smile blinked. Was this girl merely foolish or was she simply exceedingly brave? Under normal circumstances any logical person would take this pristine opportunity of him being temporarily harmless to make a run for it before Smile’s associates returned. On the other hand she looked to be an exception. Obviously she’d witnessed his confrontation with the banker and thus understood, at least to some degree, the danger which he posed to her. Surely that was the case!

Yet despite it all she appeared thoroughly self-assured, even going as far as to be so assertive in reprimanding him. It irked him immensely. Not even making an effort to answer her inquiries and demands, he withdrew a dagger from his pocket, unsheathing it as he pointed it at his target. Of course, he wouldn’t really rely solely on his gun. In fact, his weapon of choice had always been the blade, a testimony to the traditional ways of his homeland.

Nonetheless, since he hadn’t guessed he would be separated from his ‘subordinates’ on this assignment he didn’t have his usual assortment of weaponry. All he had was this ancient dagger which was his only reminder of ‘home’. It was a pity he’ll have to bloody his favorite blade on an occasion such as this. This prized possession in question was an exquisitely well-maintained piece of craftsmanship (considering its age) where the blade was connected to an elaborately carved ivory hilt. As was typical of oriental art, the intricate designs depicted a combat between the two dragons. It symbolized the conflict for ultimate power and for a quixotic man like Smile it also hinted at his motivations in life.

Advancing upon Sabrina, Smile backed her up against the wall of the mansion until she could retreat no further. Bringing his face down to hers, he whispered in her ear, “How brave to challenge a member of the mafia.” Withdrawing slightly, Smile swung the dagger. Yet it was only a mock attack and as was his intention, the blade dug into the wall of the mansion barely a cat’s whisker away from her ear. Briefly, he wondered if that would have frightened her. Bringing his lips to hers, he kissed her.

Maybe he should have asked her permission or even have inquired regarding her name before taking such rude and pretentious action but being a member of the mafia Smile hardly knew how to interact with others outside the ‘business’. He should have been gentler yet being a killer he didn’t even know the first thing about what ‘gentle’ entailed. All he knew was that he was more intrigued by this fascinating creature than he had been about anyone or anything else. It was almost as if he had been caught under an enchantment by those stunning emerald eyes. He wasn’t going to kill her; he was going to protect her.

[Wolfy]

Sabrina was about to reprimand him further when he started pushing her backwards into the wall of her former mansion. Confused and shocked that he would do that, she began to vocalize her complaints. Then, with dread, he came close and whispered something in her ear. “How brave to challenge a member of the mafia.” Sabrina's face drained of color and she suddenly noticed the gleaming blade in his hands.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean to... I didn't know that you...!" She saw him back up and grip the dagger more tightly. "Wait, wait! I'll... just, I won't-" Suddenly, she saw the knife being swung right to her face. She tensed up and closed her eyes tightly so she wouldn't have to see it, when she heard the grating sound of the metal blade hitting the brick side of the wall behind her. Shaking slightly, she opened her eyes to see the blade mere millimeters from her ear.

What had he meant by that? Was he just scaring her? THen, without any warning whatsoever, she felt him lean in close and kiss her. Since she had nowhere to pull away to, considering that her head was still pressed up against the wall, she had to just let him kiss her for as long as he wanted. She didn't return the gesture, however.

When he finally pulled back, she took in a deep breath and looked at him with more of a scared look than an angry one. "What are you doing?" she asked loudly. "I thought you were just going to kill me a second ago!"

So confused and shocked at the entire situation was she that she didn't even think that she should be mad. She just wanted to get out of there safely without getting hurt by the brute in front of her. She wondered if Adrasteia would be able to hear her and get to her before this man had the chance to strike...

[Rad]

“Well, that thought had entered my mind. However, in the end it seems that your lips entice me more than your blood.” Smile chuckled as he leaned closer towards Sabrina. This new emotion was beguiling; he wondered if he would suffer from that same sensation if he were to kiss her again. However, before he could make his move, he heard the snap of a twig behind him and instinctively retreated a few steps. Nonetheless, before Smile could defend himself he felt something blunt jabbing into the back of his head. A gun, perhaps? Well wasn’t this ironic?

“You foreigners have no manners. Don’t you know it’s rude to kiss a lady without her permission?” Miraculously, the person speaking was Adrasteia who had coincidentally meandered upon the scene whilst searching for Memini. Being unarmed but determined to save Sabrina from the man, Adrasteia had snapped off a sufficiently sturdy stick from a tree, hoping that his opponent would misjudge the sensation of the twig on his head to be that of a gun. Thankfully, the creep’s back was turned to him and thus for the interim Adrasteia had the advantage.

“Well, I don’t exactly hear her complaining none.” Smile smirked, “I’ll bet ya just jealous I kissed ya princess, ya petty white man.” How was he supposed to escape this predicament? Well first he had to distract his challenger, something he decided would be easiest to accomplish with insults. Most likely it was just some holier-than-thou upper-class fellow wanting a chance to play hero. Such individuals were easy to defeat and generally didn’t pose a threat, he just needed him to unhand that gun.

“Jealous? Hah! Unlike you I’m not some deprived pedophile. How old are you, exactly? I should shoot a worthless mutt like you right here and now!” Adrasteia retorted, rather indignant at the implications of Smile’s crude accusation.

“Old? I’m barely twenty-one! Besides, it’s only natural for a lady’s suitor to be…more experienced than herself. Furthermore, you wouldn’t shoot me, not in front of a lady.” Ah! He had found it now, his enemy’s weakness was simple, why hadn’t he seen if before? All Smile had to do was move his head and his foe wouldn’t dare shoot for fear of accidentally hitting Sabrina.

Swiftly moving aside, Smile lashed out backwards with his right foot, winding Adrasteia and sending him stumbling backwards. Noting with relief that the ‘gun’ was really only a twig, Smile took advantage of this opportunity to dislodge his dagger from the wall. Charging at his opponent, he swung the blade in a wide arch, intending to slice across Adrasteia’s throat. However, by now Adrasteia had recovered from his initial surprise just enough to dodge the advance. Ducking below the swing of the arm, Adrasteia punched upwards, an impact that sent the weapon airborne.

Unfortunately, before he could deliver another blow to his enemy, a rather large apple pie sailed through the air and struck him on the side of this head. This rather abrupt intrusion into the fight was followed by an exclamation of delight from the culprit who appeared sporting an exceedingly frilly dress. “Ha-ha got ya Adrasteia!” Memini sang, waving at Sabrina and evidently unaware of the dire situation he had walked into.

As he was cleaning the apple jam from his eyes, Adrasteia was incapable of preventing Smile from retrieving his dagger from the nearby thicket into which it had plunged during its descent. When he finally had the ability to see again, the sight which greeted him was that of the blade pointed right at his face.

“Hey! No knives in a food fight!” Memini reprimanded sternly, still blessedly oblivious of the trouble he had created for them all.

[Wolfy]

Was that supposed to be good or bad? So he didn't want to kill her yet, but he was still going to continue to kiss her against her will? How long would it last before he wanted her dead again? Either way, she had no choice but to put up with it, since she was sure that fighting him now would just make him lose his patience, which was already in short supply. So she shut her eyes tightly and tensed up, preparing for the inevitable kiss.

Since her eyes were closed, she didn't see Adrasteia until Smile backed up and she reopened her emerald eyes. The surprise from seeing her friend taking on a member of a mafia with nothing but a stick kept her quiet until she got the trick he was pulling. As long as he kept his back turned, it would work, right?

Unfortunately, Smile was too bold to fall for the deception. Sabrina watched in horror as he turned and started swinging the knife. Surely unarmed, mild-mannered, Adrasteia would be bested in a hand-to-hand fight. She needed to help; but how could she help? Taking a quick look around, Sabrina tried to find anything she could use as a weapon.

On the grass next to her feet was a glass platter that had somehow ended up flying out the window at some point in the food fight before she'd arrived. It still had some crab marinade stains on it from when it had been used as a platter instead of a projectile. That set of intricately-designed platter had been used for every party they had ever had at their mansion.

And she knew for a fact that each platter was very heavy. Perfect for what she needed. She slowly reached down and picked up the big plate, holding it over her shoulder. She planned on hitting it on the side of his head at her first opprotunity. She saw that moment just as Adrasteia knocked the knife out of his hand.

All of her muscles tensed as she prepared to swing the plate directly at his head. She knew it wouldnt' kill him, but she was hoping to maybe knock him out for long enough that they could get away unharmed. However, all of her plans were foiled with a pan of pie flew through the window, directly hitting Adrasteia on the face.

For the crucial moment it took for Smile to retrieve his knife, Sabrina had been too unsure of how to react to stop him. And before she was ready to swing the platter again, he already had the knife to Adrasteia's face. It was too risky now to try and knock out the assailant because he could fall forward and end up stabbing him anyway.

She glared back to see that her plans had been foiled by none other than Memini, still sporting the frilly pink dress. "Memini!" she said harsly. She let the plate drop so it was hanging as low as her arms would allow. "What are you doing?" She looked positively furious for him ruining the whole situation.

[Rad]

Confused by Sabrina’s attitude towards his victory over Adrasteia, Memini returned her glare, retorting, “Just winning the food fight, dah!” He simply couldn’t pinpoint the source of Sabrina’s irritation. Why was she suddenly so up-tight? Equally baffling was the foreigner aiming that dagger at his butler. Gradually, the gravity of his actions dawned on him and shuddering he retreated back from the window. “Hey, don’t die, you two!” He shouted, as he disappeared into the mansion. That person had a knife so the only option he had was to run away…right?

Adrasteia sighed; he didn’t know whether to feel angry, defeated, frustrated, or exasperated. At length, he resigned to his fate, closing his eyes and saying, “Fine, you’ve won. Now what? Are you going to kill me and abscond with the girl?” There was a time when he may have endeavored to put up more of a fight against the Mafioso yet years of living a moral life as Memini’s butler had both softened and weakened him. There was nothing he could do now. Wasn’t it ironic that his demise would indirectly be at the hands of his young master?

“Kill?” Smile echoed, withdrawing the blade for the moment, not that Adrasteia would notice with his eyes closed like that. “To be honest I don’t feel like it anymore.” Well, murdering this annoyance had been his original objective yet now that the fellow had voiced Smile’s intention it would almost seem as if he were obeying the guy’s instructions if he went along with the plan. In this world there was nothing he hated more than complying with the demands of another. That’s why he didn’t drink Rouge, so that his actions wouldn’t be determined by the need to quench some random addiction. Currently, the Boss was the only person worthy of his deference. “Ya give up too easily.” Smile smirked, replacing the dagger in its sheath.

[Wolfy]

"Hey, don't die you two!"

That was it? He had just ruined two of the closet peoples' plans of escaping the brute and lost them the fight for their lives, and left them to die like that? The nerve! How could he do that to them? She just didn't understand how he could abandon them like that. "Coward," she muttered angrily.

She looked down and then heard what Adrasteia said. He was giving up on them, too? She was so surprised - he'd seemed so determined mere seconds ago. She couldn't help but look at her friend with a mixture of sadness and dissapointment. He wasn't going to let him do that to them. Right?

She was completely dumfounded, however, when his surrender actually stopped Smile. She let out a sigh of relief and dropped the platter onto the green grass covering the ground. It landed with a dull thud and flattened the grass underneath - showing how heavy it really was.

"Oh, thank goodness," she said softly and stepped from the wall where she had been pushed up against. She edged over to Adrasteia, avoiding Smile as best she could. Reaching her hand down, she offered to help him up so they could leave. The sooner they could leave this man behind, the better.

[Rad]

“Fine, just leave. I have urgent business to attend to anyway.” Smile shrugged, doing his best to guise his irritation at being ignored by Sabrina. “Besides, this house is ruined so I’ll better inform the Boss before he goes wasting his money and bullets on securing something he won’t even want.” Pointing out the smashed window and additional damage he could see within the mansion, Smile grinned, “all the better for you, eh miss?”

With a wave at Sabrina, Smile strode off in the direction his colleagues had gone. As he went, he kicked over an ornate statue obstructing his path. As it smashed upon the ground, the mobster continued on, whistling as if nothing had happened. As he neared the border of the estate, he turned back, gave another wave and shouted “Call me!” before sprinting off. It didn’t seem as though he’d realized he had failed to provide his name and number. Not that Sabrina would even want to contact him anyway.

“Thanks, Sabrina.” Adrasteia stated, declining her offer of assistance by picking himself up off the ground. “That bastard! I’m going to kill him!” Of course, he was referring to Memini. “I was on the verge of victory before he got here! That coward! Running away like that! He’s utterly useless! Did you know he still needs help putting on his clothes in the morning, is always late for school, can’t fall asleep without his teddy bear, thinks the U.K stands for the Ukraine, got a ZERO on his recent science test, was backstabbing his history teacher when he was right behind him and, and…” Adrasteia had run out of breath in divulging that string of insults. Now that he was replenishing his oxygen supply he seemed to compose himself a bit. “Sabrina, how do you suggest we punish him? Let it be the worst torture imaginable!”

[Wolfy]

Sabrina's hands clenched into fists as she gave a furious glare out at Smile as he walked off. In fact, if she didn't feel positively terrified of him, she would be tempted to run after him and give him what he deserved. But she wouldn't, since he'd just about flayed them both. She felt a stab of sadness when he kicked over the statue - she remembered when they'd had that made, specifically for that spot.

Then again, better the statue than Adrasteia and herself. So she pretended like it didn't bother her and she rolled her eyes. After making sure Adrasteia was okay, she let herself finally calm down. "Adrasteia, thank you so much for saving me! I would either be dead, or in his filthy paws. I really must find some way to repay you for what you did... Unlike Memini!"

That just brought her back to how angry she was at the boy. Unlike her normal cool and collected self, she really let herself get furious at her 'oldest friend'. "I know!" she said after he had finished his complaints. "And we are the only two people on this planet who actually care about him!"

She paced around a little, thinking of why on earth he would abandon them like he did. "What if we really had died? What would he do with himself then?" That's when an idea popped in to her head. "I know! That's how we can get back at him for what he did!" She looked around quickly. "We'll just stay out for awhile. No more than a few hours. The chauffeur can tell him that he saw the police come and load up two bodies... He'll buy it for sure!"

[Rad]

“Brilliant suggestion, milady!” Adrasteia praised, giving Sabrina the thumbs-up. “Now let’s go find that chauffer.” Sneaking around the side of the mansion to the main entrance where only a fraction of the original number of vehicles and cabs remained (it seemed the food fight had been a success in driving off most of the buyers), Adrasteia spotted the Veritas chauffer leaning against the hood of a car. The man was currently reading a newspaper and seemed oblivious to the chaos which had erupted almost everywhere else on the estate. Looking up, he waved at the duo, voicing a greeting before returning to his reading.

Walking up to him, Adrasteia whispered his instructions in his ear. This was received with a nod and a conspiring grin on the part of his confidant. Looking over at Sabrina, the man mouthed the words, “Great idea!” Returning to Sabrina, Adrasteia pointed out a nearby hedge, saying, “Let’s conceal ourselves there. It should be within audible distance of their conversation and we might also be able to observe some of the action through the vegetation.” Holding out his hand to Sabrina, Adrasteia crouched down behind the hedge and waited for Memini to appear.

After some time of waiting, Memini pranced out of the mansion, flourishing some sort of contract in his hands. Giggling like a little girl, he practically danced up to the chauffer waving the piece of paper proudly in front of his face. Despite the now disheveled appearance of his frilly dress, Memini did not appear at all different from usual, giving the impression that he didn’t even feel slightly remorseful for abandoning his only friends to the mercy of the Mafioso. Adrasteia almost lost to the temptation of hurling a rock at him.

“Look, look! I secured the deed to the estate and all it took was a dash of my womanly charm.” Memini winked, flicking his hair as if he really were a girl. “Those young lads were happy to do me the favor of wrecking the interior of the establishment and after that was done the value and demand for the property dropped enough for me to make a purchase independent of Mrs. Hamilton’s funds. Well, aren’t you going to congratulate me? Where are Adrasteia and Sabrina anyway? I haven’t seen them since…well I haven’t seen them for a while!”

Adopting a rather morose expression, the chauffer disclosed, “Unfortunately, your efforts will go to waste now that Sabrina is no longer alive. The cops arrived earlier and carted off the bodies of the two you just mentioned. It seems some confrontation had occurred in the back garden during the auction. Pity, because from what I heard if anyone had stepped in to help they could have been saved.”

This piece of information rendered Memini incapable of speech and for the moment he could only gawk incomprehensibly at him as if he were insane. Waving a hand in front of Memini’s face and amused that there was no reaction, the chauffer said, “Well, I’m off to pay my respects at the scene of the crime.”

At this, Memini turned his back and stated, “Fine! Go! I don’t care! I am not following you!” Of course, Memini was just unwilling to reveal his emotions in front of the servant but for now it appeared as though he were completely indifferent to the deaths of those closest to him.

“Fine, suit yourself.” The chauffer replied, taking this opportunity to join Adrasteia and Sabrina. He wasn’t going to miss seeing this for the world.

For a few minutes, only silence ensued during which time Memini glanced around to see if there was anyone around. Once he had ascertained that he was ‘alone’, he slumped down onto the pavement and promptly broke into tears. Wailing and bawling, he cried “WHY? This is so unfair! This is all my fault!” He was also sobbing uncontrollably, an aspect that made most of his dialogue indiscernible. Still, occasionally it was possible to distinguish a sentence or two. “I…I…never even told Adrasteia how much I…” he choked out something that something that sounded like ‘love’ “him…” the rest was lost in his weeping. (OoC: What Memini wanted to say was: ‘I never even told Adrasteia how much I love him like he’s my older brother.’ The characters don’t know that though.)

At this utterance, Adrasteia suddenly felt the chauffer’s eyes on him. “Don’t tell me it’s THAT sort of relationship…” The chauffer sighed, feeling slightly awkward at having accidentally heard such a strange confession.

“Hey…I didn’t know either…” Adrasteia responded, unsure how to react.

“And..and…Sabrina was so nice!” More howling followed, through which only specific words such as “so elegant”, “really pretty”, “I didn’t deserve to know her”, “how will I tell her parents that it was my fault?” could be heard. At this point Memini was mumbling so much that his words no longer sounded English. Only a single name could be heard occasionally as if it had been set on repeat, the name was “Sabrina”.

“Wow, despite being the one he loves, he sure doesn’t focus on you too much, Adrasteia, pal.” The chauffer chuckled.

[Wolfy]

Crouching in the brush was easy for Sabrina, being so small. Plus, she had always hidden in those bushes when spying on people outside her home. But Adrasteia was a lot taller than she was. But he seemed to be able to manage, so she turned her focus on to the driver. She was so pleased by the chauffeur's acting skills - she even believed it! His entire preformance was just perfect.

Which made her so worried when he didn't react at all. Did he not care about them? She would definatly cry if Memini died! She would most likely cry for Adrasteia, too, even though she didn't know him a lot yet. So it really bothered her when he showed absolutely nothing.

But, when the driver was out of sight and Memini saw that he was alone, she was truly surprised by the explosive emotions exhibited by the normally reserved boy. She actually kind of felt bad. "Maybe we went too far?" she whispered to Adrasteia. "He looks so upset..."

When he started talking, though, he recieved her full attention again. "I never even told Adrasteia how much I love him!" That's what she caught. The last part about him being like an older brother was lost in sobs. Without saying anything, she slowly tilted her head up to look at Adrasteia. She didn't want to say anything, just in case she heard that wrong.

Watching her friend mourn for her was truly sad. She actually began tearing up, hearing the pain in his voice and the kind things he said about her. Sighing, she leaned her head against Adrasteia's arm, hiding her face from the two men hiding with her. She didn't want it to be known that she cried about the prank that was her own idea! That would be rediculous! And she wouldn't let them think she was just another weak girl.

[Rad]

Adrasteia was feeling increasingly awkward, if Memini loved him in that way that was the kid’s own decision. Even as his servant, Adrasteia wouldn’t be obligated to return those feelings, right? Should he pretend he hadn’t heard the confession or make it clear he didn’t want to participate in that sort of relationship? Wasn’t Memini in love with Bianca or was that simply an extreme form of idolization? The confession didn’t make any conceivable sense! Adrasteia could only arrive at the conclusion that he had simply misheard what his young master had said…although the fact that all three of them had made the identical mistake was quite perplexing.

Still...maybe Memini’s mindset was his fault. Being a simpleton it wasn’t unfeasible that Memini might gradually come to consider himself as a girl after having been coerced into a dress so many times. Maybe was a symptom of some undeclared mental trauma. However, it was at that moment that Sabrina leaned her head against his arm and he tore his thoughts away from such strange contemplations. It was apparent that the prank was upsetting both his young master and Sabrina and as such it was probably best to bring an end to things. Yet…somehow he felt determined to avoid Memini as long as possible.

“Sabrina, if this prank is distressing you we don’t have to keep it up. Memini’s probably been punished enough for his cowardice and we’ve all learnt that he actually has a heart. If you want, you can reveal that it’s simply been an act.” Placing a comforting hand on Sabrina’s arm, Adrasteia added, “If he tries to be cocky we can just tease him about his confession.” ‘Even though the prospect of even mentioning it makes me feel uncomfortable.’

[Wolfy]

Quickly wiping away the few tears on her face, Sabrina put on a strong expression. "I'm not upset," she corrected him firmly. "But Memini sure is... I'm only stopping it for his sake." She crossed her arms defensively, trying to look as unemotional as possible - though she was fairly certain that neither of the men were buying her indifferent act.

So she just edged her way out of the branches of the hedge and glanced back at them. Without hesitate more than a few seconds before continuing to where Memini was still sobbing about Adrasteia's and her 'death'. She approached him silently and stood behind him. Letting out an inaudible sigh, she reached out her hand to place it on his shoulder.

"Memini," she said softly. "Settle down. Please stop crying." She hated seeing him that upset - especially because it was her doing. "It's okay! Don't cry..." She put on a smile small, as if it was all just a joke. She hoped that Memini wouldn't be mad at her for the cruel idea.

[Rad]

Memini was still whimpering uncontrollably when he heard a familiar voice. Fear instantly gripped him as he forced himself to turn around. He knew who it was and now that he was facing her his suspicions were confirmed. It was Sabrina, or rather, it must be her ghost. Trembling, he reached out a tentative hand as he wondered why she had appeared. For a brief second, a memory flashed in his mind of his father’s contemptuous voice saying that Memini’s tears…or was it tantrums…could awaken the dead. He wondered if that were the case in this instance.

What was preventing Sabrina from passing on to the next world complete eluded him but all the same it didn’t prevent him from hazarding a guess. Perhaps she had returned to enact some form of revenge on him for abandoning her and Adrasteia to their death? He really hadn’t meant to! He hadn’t even considered the possibility that he would never see them again. He just ran away because…because…well in retrospect he supposed he really didn’t have an excuse. Clasping Sabrina’s hand, he sobbed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to run away. I…”

Something was amiss here…why were Sabrina’s hands warm if she was a ghost? Wasn’t it convention for ghosts to be as cold as death? Or at least they should be according to that age old saying. Then…did this warmth propose that Sabrina wasn’t actually dead? It was just too incomprehensible and whilst he was mulling over the possibilities his expression of grief was gradually placed by one of mystified puzzlement. This was truly a baffling phenomenon; one that he could make neither head nor tail of. He didn’t even consider for a second that he was the victim of some demonic prank.

“Hey…um…are you a ghost?” He managed to ask at last, his eyes glancing analytically over Sabrina. Ghosts were supposed to be at least semi-transparent, right? Then why did Sabrina’s figure look so substantial? She was even casting a shadow.

[Wolfy]

Sabrina didn't understand why he was shaking so badly as he turned to face her. It didn't even occur to her that she might seem like a ghost to him. "Memini, it's okay..." she said in a soft voice. "Calm down." When he took her hand, she wrapped her other hand around his. "No, it's okay," she said.

"We were just mad that you left us there," she tried to explain. "We wanted to get back at you for what you did..." She looked around, not really wanting to look him in the eyes. "But I heard what you said about me... And I'm so sorry."

What was with the peculiar look he was giving her? It was almost as if he was trying to look at something behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, trying to see what he was looking at. There was nothing behind them - just the house and the hedge fence Adrasteia and the driver were still hiding in.

She was just about to ask him what he was looking at when he just came out and asked her if she was a ghost. Confused, Sabrina just stared at him. "You think I'm a ghost?" she asked. Then , realizing that Memini wasn't always the most intelligent of people, guessed that he still thought her prank was real.

"Oh, no, Memini," she said quickly. "That was just a trick! We wanted to you see what it felt like if we had really died! I know, it was really wrong, but we were just so mad." Sighing, she stepped back a little. "We're fine. But I understand if you're mad. I didn't know it would upset you so badly..."

[Rad]

“It was just a trick?” Memini echoed, confusion still clouding his face, reaching up, he yanked at Sabrina’s hair just to ascertain that she was a real person and not just some illusion fabricated by his distressed mind. Having affirmed that the ‘apparition’ in front of him was, in fact, not an apparition at all, Memini’s expression gradually morphed into a blank and almost brainless one. He was still processing what he had been told. Seriously? It was all a joke? A dumb insensitive prank? He was appalled, partially because he had uttered so many cheesy things and partly because he was genuinely wounded by how they had treated him.

He was about to deliver a plethora of insults when he remembered that the entire situation was actually his own fault. For once he was willing to take responsibility for his actions and admit to his wrongdoings. After all, they had merely been acting out the worst case scenario, a scenario that would have been the result of his cowardice. Really, would he even be justified in blaming this on them? “I’m sorry, Sabrina.” Memini muttered, turning his head away since he was unfamiliar with how to properly apologize, “I’m sorry for abandoning you two…it’s just that…I was terrified …and I didn’t think I would have been of any use to you even if I had stayed.”

Composing himself, Memini took out a handkerchief and attempted to dispose of those tell-tale tears. Sniffling and hiccupping as he did so, Memini frowned. Oh the humiliation he was going through! Now that he had sufficiently calmed down, the embarrassment of everything he had said finally crashed down upon him and for a moment he was so overcome by it all that he blushed a deep scarlet. “Hey…Sabrina…how much of what I said did you all hear?” If he knew they had all misconstrued what he had confessed regarding Adrasteia he would really be mortified!