YOU TASTE LIKE SUNSHINE DUST [Aven]

Lumi was tired. Tired and sick. She's been more tired than usual, probably because of waking up fifty times a night from the nightmares, and being sick was probably all because of the anxiety and mental distress. And while staying at home kneeling over a toilet was loads of fun, she was feeling a little better now and decided to get herself some coffee to help the tired-ness.

"Black coffee please," she ordered tiredly. The employee behind the counter glared at her. She'd been in a lot of unfortunate situations at Casa Nova's. They didn't like her very much. As if she cared if anyone liked her.

She took a seat as far away from any other clio as possible and sipped her coffee in silence, partaking in her frequent pasttime of staring blankly at the tabletop.

Aven brushed easily past the door to Casa Nova's. He breezed into the place, his perpetual idiot smile on his face.

He waved brightly at the casheier girl, Hayley, shouting his greetings to her. Then he ordered a chai latte, as if he needed more caffeine, and sat down next to the window, eyes focusing on one thing, then another and another, never keeping his attenton on anything for too long, until he saw her.

Ah-hah. He grinned and leaned as far over in his chair. "Pssst..." he whispered, "psssssttt!"

A little too far...WHOA.
And Aven was on the floor with a loud clatter of the chair, all eyes on him as he laughed from his awkward postion on the floor. "Psst...!"

At first Lumi didn't notice the boy "Pssst"ing at her until he suddenly fell out of his chair with a crash. She looked down at him, startled, and he looked at her and "pssst"ed again.

"Do you want something?" she asked in a low voice, slightly nervous. She wasn't too keen on strange men (in this case a strange boy) talking to her or looking at her or acknowledging her in any way.

"Just to say hello," he whispered back. "Why are we whispering?" He slowly picked himself and the chair off, the other clio one by one took their eyes off the crazy clio. Aven brushed himself off and resettled himself in his chair, idiot smile going no where.

"I wasn't whispering," Lumi replied. Just talking quietly. She was kind of annoyed at this boy drawing the attention of everyone in the store to them. He fell out of his chair just to say hello? "Um, hello I guess. Is that all?" At least he wasn't hitting on her. She would probably explode if he did.

"OH." Aven whispered, eyes wide, nodding subtly. "I understand." (No he doesn't.) Then he smiled at her. "Hello!"

He took a sip of his latte, wincing at how hot it was. "Can I sit with you?"

Lumi shrugged as if she didn't care. Then she nodded. She wasn't really sure what it was he "understood." What had she said that took understanding to figure out. "So...I'm Lumi," she said since introductions were in order. "And you are...?" She wondered if he could even remember his own name.

Instantly, he shot his hand out at her. "AVEN. It's Aven." Aven smiled, proudly. "I remembered it this time. This one time, I was at the baths, and I...just couldn't remember. HAH." He wiggled a little in his seat, pleased with himself. "Nice to meet you, Lumi."

Lumi flinched noticeably when he flung his hand at her, and recoiled slightly. After some hesitation she reached out and shook it, letting go quickly. So he did sometimes forget his own name. That...wasn't surprising. "Nice to meet you too," she lied.

Aven pouted. "Something's wrong, huh? What is it?" He began whispering again. "I promise I won't tell anyone. I may be stupid, but I'm good at keeping secretss..." He smiled at her, wiggling again. "I promise."

Lumi frowned. She was sick of people trying to get her to tell them what was wrong. "What makes you think I wanna share my problems with some kid I just met?" she asked irritably. She hadn't even told her best friends, why would she tell a stranger? Especially one who she seriously doubted could 'keep a secret.'

Aven shrugged, undeterred, his smile not fading at all. "I don't know, you just looked really, really upset. An' I hate when people are upset. An' I wanted to make you feel better. An' I'm sorry t'bother you, I just felt bad. I wanted you to not be upset."

Smile.

"Well...there's nothing you can do," Lumi replied bluntly. She didn't really appreciate his attempts to cheer her up. His or anyone's. Moxie kept telling her she would be able to move on if she just told someone, but Lumi didn't see how that could happen. How would telling someone change anything?

Aven nodded. "That's usually the case. My brother Lior's been really sad lately too. And I always want to cheer him up, and he usually says that too." He frowned, thinking about it. "You're like he is." He nodded slowly. "I'm sorry. I'm not really good at anything."

"Well," Lumi said cynically, "I doubt he's sad for the same reason."

Aven did seem more genuinely caring than most other clio, who were obviously just curious as to what could make Lumi so depressed. Maybe...maybe she could tell him...it would be better to tell a stranger. A stranger wouldn't look at her any differently.

"If I told you," she said slowly, quietly. "would you promise not to act any different towards me than you are now?"

Aven nodded. "Yeah, he's a boy. You're a girl. It's usually different."

He listened to her slowly begin her sentence, looking at her intently. "Yes, I promise." Then he smiled to reassure her. "I'll still be your friend no matter what."

"Okay," Lumi said, swallowing the lump in her throat. This was going to be hard. Talking about it meant thinking about it. It made it more real. "I-I was walking home one day...on Theodore Lane...it was really late..."

She struggled through the story, occasionally needing to stop to regain her composure. Her eyes stung and she blinked rapidly. Having to relive it made her hand shake and her breathing become quick and shallow.

"A-and then...he walked away...l-laughing...and I went home," she finished, with a shuddering gasp.

Aven listened to her story, a solemn look on his face. He held back from touching her because it just didn't seem appropriate, until the end when she heaved a gasp.

He leaned forward and hugged her lightly, hoping she didn't react badly, based on what he had heardfrom her.

"I'm so sorry..." He whispered, unsure of whatelse to say. "How horriable."

Lumi closed her eyes and allowed Aven to hold her. There was nothing frightening about him touching her. After managing to calm herself down, she pulled back and wiped her eyes. "Thanks," she mumbled, "for listening. And for keeping your promise."

She could tell he wasn't seeing her any different. He wasn't looking down on her, or completely reevaluating his opinions on her. He was making her feel better.

He nodded again, looking on at her with respect, glad she had opened up to him. He kept his hand on her shoulder as she wiped her eyes. "You're welcome, I'm just glad I could be here to help you."

He shifted in his seat a little. "I told you I would." Aven smiled at her again. "I promised!"

Lumi smiled back. It was a weak smile, but it was the first time she'd smiled in weeks (not counting the half a second long smile from when she met Alecis.) "Yeah," she agreed. "You really did make me feel better. I can't even remember the last time I felt...slightly less terrible." She gave a tiny laugh that was a little wobbly around the edges.

He grinned, "I'm glad, I really am." He rubbed her shoulder. "If only I could get Lior to tell me what's eating him. He's been so sad too lately, like I said." Aven moved his hand to hers, squeezed it gently and then rested his hand back in his lap, "I'm so sorry you had to go through that though. I can't even imagine..."

[not for long, you can't silly boy. i almost cant do that to him. maybe just lior? get him to realize he's deff not gay.]

Lumi lowered her gaze and fidgeted absent-mindedly with the drawstrings on her hoodie. "I...I never used to think...anything like that could ever happen to me," she muttered. "I thought I was so strong and capable of anything. I know better now..."

"I understand," He said again, only this time, it was appropriate, and he actually did. "It's horrible that you had to find out that way. I mean, no one's perfect. No one's invincible, except Ben, who I happened upon on my visit through the rift. He was a character, let me tell you. His wolf buddies tried to eat Ra," Aven laughed silently, his shoulder shaking. "Oh by the way, that's Ra." Ra nodded solemnly at her, in his squirrel way.

Lumi gave Aven a confused look. "Wait...what?" she asked. She knew what the rift was, but who was Ben? What did he mean, "wolf buddies?" What? She had no idea what he was suddenly talking about.