::The landlord opens the door and passes the keys to Lily, gripping onto her hand tightly.::

"Anything else you want?"

::Grins.::

:: Lily jumps away, snatching her hand away from the Landlord. She stares at him in blind terror. ::

"What did you do that for? Just get off me. I just want to get settled in, nothing else. I didn't ask for anything, just get out!"

:: Lily is stuttering and her face has lost all its colour. ::

::Stares.::

"Freak. Hot freak."

::Leaves.::

:: Lily slams the door behind the Landlord and leans against it, her eyes stinging with tears. She looks around her apartment, then slides to the floor. ::

"I, am NOT a freak... "

:: She gets up, and walks around her appartment, looking into the rooms, then turns to head out to the Hallway. ::

:: Lily gets to her appartment, deeply shaken still after the events in the forest with Petunius. She took her jacket off and hung it up, rubbing at the scars on her arms.::

(He was a nice man, he really was. But I still can't believe I told him...I shouldn't have. I'm not that weak, I don't need help. though sometimes, I suppose the help is gratly apprichiated.)

:: Lily walked into the bathroom and took off her clothes. She go into her shower and had a long hot shower, thinking more about what had happened to her that day.::

"...Look at the stars, and how they shine for you, and everything you do..."

:: After singing in the shower, Lily gets out snd goes for a sleep for a while.::

:: Lily wakes up, and gets washed and dressed in black with a long sleeved top before getting her things into a bag and walking to the hallway.::

:: Lily arrives home, completly knackered. She puts her bag down and goes into her bathroom. Taking off her clothes, she folds them and has a shower.::

(I really need to learn not to get so worked up...What if Petunius is right, I could have set fire to half the bar tonight...)

:: Lily finishes her shower then goes into her bedroom, plops onto the bed and falls asleep.::

:: Lily can't sleep. Shes tossing and turning, her dreams set on returning to the beach where she was bitten. She wakes up in a little bit of a sweat and decides she has to go back to the beach, to see or find out what actually happened there.::

(If I find that out, maybe it'll help me stay calmer? I could always try. Anyway, what are the odds of two bites within 24 hours of each other...)

:: Lily gets out of bed and pits a warm hooded top and a pair of jeans on. She then brushes her hair, grabs her keys and walks out to the hallway.::

:: Lily comes back into her apartment. She feels very weary and heads over to her medicine cabinet in the bathroom for an asprin for her head.::

"Can't get rid of it that way, I'll just let painkillers do their trick."

:: She fills a glass of water and takes two asprin with it. Looking round, she suddenly feels very alone, so she walks over to her window, jumps up onto the window ledge and stares out at the city.::

:: Lily, still thinking, comes to the realisation that shes much better off if she is with other people doing something, her thoughts tend to be much less eratic and she doesn't dwell on thing past, so she gets down off the window ledge and goes to brush her hair before leaving her apartment and heading into the Hallway.::

[Lily is deposited on her bed. Next time tell us!]

:: Lily wakes up... after a very, very long sleep. Such a refreshing sleep it was in fact. She looks around her apartment, and gets off her bed to get dressed.::

(Oh my, that must have been at least a 12 hour sleep!)

:: She has a quick shower, no songs in particular coming to mind, and decides on something to wear.::

(Hmmm, I wonder who's up...)

:: After a little *breakfast* she heads into into the hallway ::

:: Lily storms into her room, slamming her door behind her. She is in a rather foul mood, so stalks over to the window, opens it, and sits on the window ledge.::

(Nobody will come here, ever to make sure I go with them to go get Cora. It makes knowing people rather pointless, but you can't make anyone like you. Its rather stupid if you ask me...)

:: She looks onto the pavement below and focuses on a pieve of paper on the street, setting it on fire.::

(Anyway, the people I know probably just want me there because my power can work down there. Its a rather pointless power at times anyway.

:: She looks back at the paper, focusing her energy on it, to make the flames die down, which they do, but she can't get it to go out.::

(Oh well, it'll burn out itself. Thats another thing! Erin, the one who told me aboout my powers... she said that I'd be sought after! No one has even come... I don't even thing anyone down there wants me either, not even to try and make me set fire to a good person... bastards.)

:: Lily sighs, and picks herself off her window. She gets a quick bite to eat, then heads out into the hallway.::

:: Unlocks her door and opens it for Des to go in.::

"Sorry... its quite small, but it does the job."

"It's better than any place I've stayed in!"

::Desire enthuses, taking it in.::

"Wow. It's warm and everything!"

:: Unsure if this is the first time she's ever managed to make someone this enthusiastic about anything, Lily grins.::

"I'm glad you like it! You can have my room if you like, and I'll have the couch. I don't mind! I get the bed to myself all the time, it'll be a novelty to sleep somewhere else."

:: She closes the door and locks it, to make sure nobody just barges in.::

"Whatever suits you."

::Nosing around some of Lily's things, Desire sighs.::

"Yeah, okay. I hate to be the demanding guest but I'm really hungry."

"Oh, yeah, sure! Kitchen is this way."

:: Lily walks into the kitchen and starts getting her chicken out of the freezer. She puts it on a plate and puts that into the microwave to defrost. Turning the microwave on, she then goes back to the fridge-freezer and rumages around, pulling out some vegtables.::

"Rice with veg okay with chicken?"

"Yeah! I can't remember the last time I had rice!"

(Poor person! Definately make sure this is much better than I ever made for David.)

:: Lily gets a sharp knife and starts chopping up the veg wih it, putting small pieces of carrots, green beans, sweetcorn, peas and broad beans in a pan and boiling them. She then measures out some rice and puts that on. Following this, the chicken has defrosted, so she gets it out, turns it over, and puts it on for another 2 minutes on defrost, after turning on the grill.::

"...dum dum duuum..."

"I'm impressed. You seem to know what you're doing. I've done this before. It's just been a while."

:: She turns round, after putting the chicken under the grill.::

"Thanks. This is just a quick and easy meal thats quite nice. I used to make it all the time, but with only myself to cook for, I've pretty much been eating crap for ages. It's nice to have someone to cool for."

:: She turns the chicken over... stirs things, turns the chicken again, adds the veg to the rice... turns the chicken again, gets some plates and cuttelry out... turns the chicken again... This goes on until the meal is cooked and there are two plates on the table with cooked grilled chicken, and vegtable rice, two glasses of wine and the kitchen lovely and toasty.::

"Okay, dinner is served!"

::Desire grins hugely.::

(This is great.)

"Wow. Brilliant. I don't even know how to thank you."

::She sits down and sniffs at the wine.::

"Hm."

::She sips it.::

"Nice. Wow."

:: Lily sits down, and grins. She's never felt this appreciated before in her entire life. Bless.::

(I really like this girl!)

"Enjoy, and tuck in! Oh, and like I said before, you really don't have to pay me back, it's my total pleasure!"

(I have someone to talk to, someone is round at my apartment, things are looking up!)

::Desire grins, and eats. With her fingers. And loves every second of it.::

(This is great! I have someone to do things for me. To cook for me, and provide a bed for me. I wonder how long I can stay for.)

:: Lily looks a little shocked when Desire eats with her fingers, but hides it well. She has learned from her marriage to hide some expressions, and not to be judging of other people. At least not so that they can hear.::

"Mmm! Not too bad! I was suprised, cos it can go wrong when the chicken needs to be defrosted!"

(Okay... conversation...)

"So tell me a little about youself... if you don't mind me asking!"

"Um. I come from the south. Not that my accent shows it. I used to have a home. I don't have a trauma. My parents loved me and I them. But one day I decided to leave. That was some years ago. I got used to living rough. It feels natural."

"Ah, right. I wish I had the guts to sleep rough, but I don't. I'm much too much of a coward for that."

:: Finishes her wine.::

"You want any more?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

::Desire watches Lily with an expression of gentle curiosity.::

"Why would you want to sleep outside when you live in a place like this?"

:: Lily shrugs a little.::

"I guess... well I was always made out to be the weak one, and sleeping outside, I could prove myself to be tougher than... people thought me to be."

:: She stands up and clears away the dishes, looking slightly distant as she does.::

"That's an interesting way of making people think you were tougher. Why didn't you just punch them?"

:: Lily pauses in her washing for a second.::

"It would just have made it worse."

"Yeah. I suppose you people have your politeness and all that junk that stops you from properly communicating."

::She gets up and smirks.::

"No offence."

:: Shakes out of it for a second.::

"I wasn't trying to be polite or anything about the matter. It's just that it was about a matter which I'm over with now..."

(Over with?! yeah... I'm over it. I can't even admit to it after everything, which has happened lately. Pull yourself together woman!)

"Okay. You want to know the real reason I couldn't hit back?"

(You know doing this will help... hopefully...)

"Uh... sure?"

(Sure you're not staying with a psycho?)

"My husband, well... ex-husband. Thats the reason. My family is quite rich, and so set my ex and I up. I for one, didn't have a say in the marriage, though if I did, I most certainly would have stopped it. He wasn't a nice man, as you may well be able to guess, and that's the reason I couldn't exactly fight back. It would have just made things ten times worse."

(Cliff-notes version. Just the basics!)

:: Lily nods slightly, looking round at Desire. Her eyes drop to the floor, and she turns back to te washing.::

"Oh, right. Though maybe if you'd stood your ground he wouldn't have made you feel like that. Then again, you look kinda small and weak so you probably did the right thing."

(Small and weak?!)

:: She shakes her head.::

"Well, it's fine. I was the strong one in the end, since he doesn't even exist anymore."

"Killed him, eh?"