The assassin should have definitely seen that line coming from Simone. Lewis looked to the side, avoiding her gaze. “I guess I can try to eat more. Only if you eat breakfast.” He wasn’t used to negotiating with terrorists on this kind of level. Still, it was hard to completely avoid her eyes, and he looked back to her, holding his deadpan expression.

“I can do quite a bit when I set my mind to it,” he responded hastily. What he wasn’t expecting, though, was Simone calling him out on the poetry. He tried to look away again, his face flushing a little as she asked what he would like to hear. Lewis wasn’t well versed in anything involving fiction and creative writing.

“I don’t know anything about poetry. Just read whatever you want to. I won’t mind.” Admitting that she was right was not an option. He stood up and walked over to the room that she had tidied, and opened the door. “What…did you do to all of my stuff…”

“Deal,” she smiled a bit and went with him.

Once he couldn’t make his mind up about poetry she smiled and watched him move. Though her smile slowly disappeared when he went to the storage room. She hopped up off the sofa and went over to him. “I tidied up so you didn’t put yourself. I rolled my sleeves up like this,” she rolled her sleeves up as she spoke and put them on her hips. It was cute how intimidating she was trying to be. “And then I cleaned the room. I’ll clean you too if you don’t stop.” There was a smirk on her face.

“How long has it been since you washed behind your ears?” She took his ears as she tried to get him not to yell at her about the room. “Or really scrubbed your hair?”

“This room is filled with sharp weapons and poisons. You could have hurt yourself, or worse.” Lewis turned to her, putting his hands on his hips to counter her absurd stance. He barely realized he was even doing it. All of the feelings he had felt earlier in the day were surfacing. “What if I came home to you dying of a mixture of toxins. What would I do then?”

The fact, though, was that Simone was already trying to change the subject to his own cleanliness. “That’s not important.” He couldn’t remember the last time he had a hot bath. There were a few instances where he had soaked himself in a lake for a job or two, and that one time last week underneath a waterfall…

“Stop trying to change the subject. My hair doesn’t matter. Your health does.” If someone had walked in on them, they would have assumed it was a bickering couple with the way that they were standing off to one another.

“Throw me out the tower window?” She tilted her head at him. “Lewis Dusk are you attached?” Her hands tightened on her hips and she gave him a look. “Your cleanliness does matter! To me, it matters!”

She felt like they were at a stand-off. “Your health matters to me too. And I didn’t get hurt I was really careful. I’ve been watching you put away stuff… and I know which bottles not to open. Which blades not to touch. See I separated the ones you had poison on. I pay attention to you Lewis.” Her big stormy eyes were looking up at him.

“So… Just take a bath with me?” She took baths on the regular when Lewis was in the tower. “It’s where I go when I disappear for a bit.”

“I am not attached!” Lewis said with a slight rise in his voice. “I just don’t want to clean up a dead body!” But it was hard to sell that lie. The fact that he was getting even the tiniest bit emotional over the whole situation was the ultimate tell itself. But, maybe she wouldn’t pick up on that.

Maybe.

“Fine.” That was all it took. Maybe agreeing to her stupid request qould get her to stop nagging him over the attachment issue. “I’ll take a damn bath with you. Just…don’t touch my belongings. Blood stains are a pain to get out of wood once it’s soaked in.” The assassin crossed his arms. “Well? Go get a towel and a change of clothes. I’ll be down once I get out of my gear.”

The look on Simone’s face was one of hurt for a moment. Though she looked like she didn’t believe after too long. Her eyes were studying him constantly. “Okay…”

She kissed his cheek and ran up the stairs. She stopped part way and turned to him, “I touched you.” She stuck out her tongue and went into her room after that. Coming back down she had a towel and a change of clothes. “Are you ready?”

She looked at him. Once she spotted that he wasn’t down in the common room she opened the window and got the strawberry seeds. She hung out the window and put the seeds down in the makeshift nest that she made.

“They are from Lewis. He said the kitchen had too many today.”

It wasn’t hard to know that Simone would immediately go for the bird. She was predictable in that sense, and all it took was waiting for just the right moment. The assassin descended the stairs, and stood behind Simone for a moment, his arms crossed. “Well, well…what do we have here?”

The assassin, of course, already knew that this bird was here. The trick was to see how the poor girl would respond to his sudden ‘intrusion’ on the whole event. Right now, though, there was no way of knowing that the bird was out there. All he had was a rather compromising position for Simone.

“Are you stuck?” Lewis asked. “It would be so easy to take advantage of this situation, but I’m more curious than I am anything else.”

Simone wiggled and blushed a bit, “Not funny! Help me!” She wanted to flail a bit but she didn’t want to knock herself over the windowsill. That would be one grim fall if she did. “Come on Lewis… And take advantage how might I ask?” She couldn’t think of anything at first until she blushed and flailed her legs, “Pervert! Get me off this ledge!”

Lewis stared for a moment, a smirk starting to form. “Only if you tell me what you’re doing out there. Obviously it can’t be to escape. The window isn’t the best way to leave the tower. We do have doors.” The assassin was amused, even if the tone of his voice didn’t convey it well. After a moment more of her flailing about, Lewis grabbed the back of her top and pulled her back into the common room.

“Now…what exactly is so important that you had to almost fall out of my tower…” The assassin glanced over towards the window. “A secret of some sorts? A stash of goods? A pet, perhaps?” It was fun playing this game when he already knew the answer. Though, fun may not have quite been the right word.

“Obviously I’m going to swan dive into the abyss below,” Simone said with sass as she shook her head. “AND I KNOW YOU ARE SMIRKING AT MY EMBARRASSMENT LEWIS,” she struggled once more. She could tell right from the attitude he was giving her after all they spent enough time together now.

Simone’s face flushed as she looked towards the window. “You can’t be mad.” She went over and leaned once more this time being careful of what she was caught on. She held the little white bird in her hands and presented him to Lewis. “This is Snowball. He hit your window about a week ago. I’ve been feeding him the seeds from our fruit. He really likes strawberries though.”

Snowball puffed his chest up at Lewis before letting out a light song and looking up at Simone. “He won’t hurt you. At least… You won’t right?” She looked up at him. “Can I keep him? Please?”