Lewis smirked as Jack ran off. “This….might be a problem.” Despite his statement, he was happy. This was probably the happiest he had ever felt in his life. And now that he knew what the emotion meant…

“I think we should talk to Raile…”

Curiosity

[Before Simone’s death, after Dream Dive]

After the papaya incident, Lewis was careful about communicating with Simone. But it was getting harder to know what she did and didn’t like. Furthermore, there were a lot of questions Lewis had about how she spent her day, and he had a gut feeling that she would hate him asking. Whether or not this was true or not was beside the point.

“I’m off for the day,” Lewis said with his usual monotone voice. His face betrayed no emotion, but he was lying through his teeth about having work today. Well, not exactly. He did have a job planned, but it wasn’t anything from Lord Raith or from the temple. No, this was a job to spy on Simone for the day, and figure out what she did all day, and what her likes and dislikes were. There was no reason for her to hide anything while he was gone. It was the perfect plan.

Sort of.

With a wave, Lewis bolted out the window, and disappeared in a portal. With ease, he circled around to the common room and hid himself in the shadows of the room.

And now…we wait.

Simone offered a wave from her windowsill, “Have a good day and be careful!” She offered him her common farewell for the day. He would be back he always came back. Once he was gone she hopped off of the window sill and came down into the common room.

She tossed a basket with her handicrafts in it. “Now… Dala wanted to learn… Balance.” She nodded and got some books as she balanced them on her head. She began to dance around the room as if practicing there were a few times she tripped or they fell over. She got back up and she tried again. “Been a while since I did this… At least… I think so?” She questioned herself as she attempted it for a few more minutes.

Getting bored she swung open one of the lower room’s doors. “He’s so messy…” She rolled up her sleeves. “He’s going to get hurt one of these times,” she scoffed as she went in and began to straighten out the left half of the room.

She spent only twenty or so minutes doing so before she came back out and flopped on the couch. She took out a red book of poetry and opened it. Reciting the poems word by word aloud she practiced her reading. Then she paused, “…Would Lewis like it if I read aloud?” She frowned a bit and pulled the book closer to her face. “Would probably sew my lips shut.” There was a chuckle before she continued to read.

Lewis watched with a weird sense of…excitement? That was really hard to understand. The desire to see something, or anything really, happen with Simone. Excitement. He smirked. Today would be a very productive day.

Or not. It started off rather mundane. Lewis knew that Simone took to cleaning and tidying up throughout the day, but he never realized how…dull it was. Sure, she was balancing some books on her head, but it wasn’t really all that exciting. Though, her rather ditzy moments were almost cute. Almost.

If only he could keep that lie up…

When she moved on to one of his side rooms, Lewis almost broke out of the shadows. What was she thinking!? The weapons and poisons in that room were deadly and she could very easily hurt herself, or worse! The assassin struggled to keep himself in the shadows, and watched with a strange feeling in his stomach…a pit? Was this a worry?

It was when she finally took a break and started to read poetry in the main room, though, when Lewis got a piece of information that he had been looking for. The poem…the words didn’t make sense, though it was easy enough to memorize. Her voice, though, seemed to bring the words to life. Lewis almost forgot that he was hiding, and when she stopped he wanted to question why.

Her words answered it. Simone was questioning whether or not he’d enjoy hearing her read aloud. Lewis wanted to say yes, but he wasn’t here, and her own answer to her question gave Lewis some thought. Was he really like that? Perhaps he would have to come up with an excuse to have her read.

The knock at the door made her kick herself off the sofa and go over to the door. “Good morning Simone.”

“Good morning Jack! Do you have any messages?”

“Just one,” she opened the door carefully as Jack answered. The door was only a little bit open. Just enough for her to slip her hand and take the note. “You know you can open the door and talk to me.”

“Lewis wouldn’t like that.”

“Is Lewis always this much of an asshole?” Jack narrowed his eyes down on her.

Simone held a sheepish smile, “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s being an asshole. This is just his own way of showing he cares.”

“…Simone… Does he hit you on the head?”

“No?” She tilted her head. “You just don’t get Lewis.”

“You always say that but I stand by what I said… I don’t want to get Lewis,” he looked away from her. “Anyways… Did you want breakfast brought up.”

“Can I skip breakfast?”

“Lewis is going to kill me… Fine. But lunch?”

“I’ll eat a little.” Simone smiled a bit.

“Alright,” Jack waved off and Simone shut the door putting the note on the table.

“What should I do now… How long until Lewis is back?” She squinted a bit and groaned before bounding over to the window of the common room. “Okay,” she opened it and hung herself out of it. She pulled in a little bird with a bandaged wing. “Hey,” She rubbed her finger against the bird’s feathers. “How are you doing today?”

The little bird made noises up at her. “I know.” She brought it over to the sofa and pulled out some seeds. “I took these out of the strawberries I had yesterday. I stole Lewis’s too. He didn’t notice.” She giggled and watched the bird eat. “Just a few more days I promise.” The bird protested with its tweets. “You can’t. If you try you will hurt yourself again. You remind me of a certain assassin who is too prideful for his own good sometimes…” She smirked and she said it as it was endearing to her. “Eat up. I’m going to make you gain weight like Lewis!”

She looked at the bird, “Don’t look at me like that! He won’t notice.” She was nervous a bit. “I want to teach him to take care of himself so I don’t have to worry when he sends me away. Is that okay?” It was clear she was a bit lonely when no one was around.

The pleasant feeling Lewis had evaporated once Jack showed up. Still, Simone seemed wholly uninterested in him. At least, that’s what Lewis thought. She used his name to deflect, but…was that something that she was doing because she wanted to, or because she truly feared him? What if she liked Jack? Would she leave if given the chance?

For the most part, Lewis had to push these feelings back down, and sighed inwardly as the door shut back into place. Simone was right on one point; he was frustrated that she was skipping breakfast. A mental note for later, to make sure that she started eating it again. He hated how she rarely ate.

When she went for the window, Lewis nearly panicked, thinking she was jumping out like a mad woman. To his surprise, though, she came back with a hurt bird.

Lewis smirked. She was clever. He had noticed she was doing something, but it didn’t set off any feelings of danger, so he let it slide. So this is what you do. If it had been Lewis, he would have let the bird die. But Simone had a kind heart. When she mentioned that the bird was stubborn like he was, Lewis rolled his eyes. Of course she would think that.

The last statement she made, though, was one that shocked Lewis. She wanted to make sure he could take care of himself. What a fool of a girl…I can already… But he realized how much she forced him to tend to his needs. Food. Rest. Sleep.

I should…see if Dala can stop by more. She seems lonely… A deflection from his own feelings.

What time was it? Would he realistically be back so soon? Lewis thought for a moment. He would at least wait for her to return the bird. Simone panicking and throwing the poor creature out the window was something he wanted to avoid.

“Let’s change your bandage okay?” Simone put the bird in her lap. “Lewis had these laying around and he hasn’t noticed. I’ll just ask for more when he goes to town for us.” She gently scratched the bird’s little chin. The dirty small bandage came off and she bound the wounded wing again. The bird was an odd breed for the area. Someone must have abandoned it. It was a little white snowbird. “I think. I’m going to call you Snowball!”

The bird let out a sound and she giggled. “You like it? You remind me of fresh snow! When it would snow in Auclair I used to get in snowball fights with the other kids. We would sneak out of the castle and dive into the snow. I like the snow. It’s a good excuse for hot chocolate.” She grinned and picked up the bird. “And I think you would be much more comfortable in a place like Auclair. So when you get better… You should fly that way okay? Check on my father and make sure he’s okay?” But he wasn’t. She didn’t know that. “I don’t know how long I’ve been gone… He might be missing me a lot. I miss him.” She was sad a bit but she brought the bird up to her lips and kissed the top of its head.

“Okay, back into your nest you go.” She leaned outside the window again and put him back in. “Stay put Snowball. I saw you on the windowsill yesterday!” She pointed her finger at the bird and the bird shamed itself into the nest. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” She put more seed in the nest with him. “Now be good.” She climbed down off the window and closed it.

“There. Snowball taken care of.” She danced back to the couch and flopped back down. “Now…” She started to knit. “I wonder if Lewis would like… a scarf?” She furrowed her eyebrows a bit as she got out some colors. “I wonder what colors he would like…” She picked out a dark blue and thought about it, “He favors this one.” So she started on a scarf for Lewis.

Lewis watched her tend to the bird, which she named Snowball. It was an odd name, but her talks with the bird were…interesting. She liked snow. She missed her home. These were all details that he hadn’t known about her. It was definitely a surprise. The assassin figured now was a good enough time to leave, and as she started to work on the scarf, Lewis slipped out of the room, and headed down towards the kitchen.

As usual, he ordered food to be brought up later, but this time he made a new request. “Extra fruit this time. Strawberries, if you would.” The extra would go to Snowball. He made his way back towards the tower, and ascended it normally, coming into the common room through the door.

“I’m back,” Lewis stated as he walked in. “Anything exciting happen while I was out?” He knew everything that had happened. Would he be able to feign surprise? Even he struggled to fake an emotion. “It was a short day…have you eaten anything?”

Simone jumped up off the couch and smiled at him, “Welcome back!” She looked at the couch when he talked about the excitement for the day. “No, I sat around and I read all day… Oh! I practiced my balancing!” She was a terrible liar. But she was quick to come over and take the plate, “You got a lot of strawberries today… Is it because they are in season?” Her eyes flicked up at him a little as she fell on the couch.

She patted the spot by her as she started to take the seeds out. “I forgot to eat breakfast. Jack upset me so I forgot.” It was easiest to lie about that. “Told him I would take lunch instead.”

Simone looked him over, “You aren’t hurt today… Was it an easy job?” She hid the scarf from him and put it on the side table. “Come on we should eat lunch.”

Now that Lewis knew what she had been doing, he could easily pick up on the tells that she was hiding the truth. At least, what he thought were t ells. Humans all had similar traits…and usually when it came to lying, they did specific things on instinct. Simone’s was trying to move the conversation along in a specific manner. And her eyes. She avoided locking eyes with him, though that may have just been a normal thing she did.

“The kitchen had far too many and they;ll go bad if we don’t eat them,” Lewis replied as the strawberries made their way into Simone’s hands. “That’s no excuse, Simone. You should eat. Avoiding meals has been proven to be bad for your health. Or…something.” He wasn’t actually sure. Not that he was one to talk.

“It wasn’t a difficult job,” he said finally as he sat down next to Simone. She hadn’t hidden the scarf very well, but he pretended not to notice. “Mostly spying. Information gathering.” That was the truth. They sat in silence for a few moments before Lewis closed his eyes.

“I’ve heard from the help that you…read poetry out loud.” It was weird lying like this. “I don’t hear it much when I’m around… if it’s something that you like to do, I don’t….I don’t mind if you read it aloud while I’m here.”

“So….” She smirked up at him. “Does that mean you’ll start eating more too?” She was quick to deflect as she held up one of the strawberries to his lips. “Come on then Mr. Health Advisor.” Simone was teasing him and it was easy to see as she met his eyes easily.

“Oh, I didn’t know The Great Lewis could do other things than kill people.” She teased him softly before leaning into him and eating her lunch. She sat quietly for a little bit and looked up at him. “Is that your way of asking me to do it?”

She was shocked and her voice held it a little. She blushed and pushed her hair back, “What kind of poetry would you like to hear?” She wanted to know what he liked too.