Veles had allowed for a moment or slightly longer of slow progression, it was evident that there wasn’t a large amount of confidence past this point. A realisation that he found rather amusing. You had to have action to back up your words and there was an imbalance here.

He wasn’t the most aggressive when it came to this, Veles found it rather unattractive to lose yourself into an entanglement and become a huffing puffing mess that was just grabbing wherever they could. Which, most humans were. Instead, he kept arm to hold himself up. Lowering down onto his forearm, pushing his chest against Xevon’s, the other hand moved to hold his jaw. Still, Veles kept himself far more delicate than was probably expected and that was the point. Tight holds and control had their place and he would certainly use it, but for the time being it wasn’t required.

–

Lily almost felt disappointed that there wasn’t more time allotted to their flight, however maybe if they actually made it back out alive for the second time…maybe if Finn didn’t decide he wanted nothing to do with her. Then she could convince him to take her out again.

As her feet were lowered onto the ground she gave Finn a small nod and waited, still holding Callisto. His head had popped back up, ears perked as he watched Finntello approach a trailer. It was smarter to stay like this, two people and a cat were a little less noticeable than three even if one of them had wings.

She waited in the shadows of the clearing, glancing around awkwardly. Suddenly, Lily felt like she was intruding on something when a woman came flying out of the trailer and embraced Finn without saying a word. She looked away, down at her feet and Callisto, not wanting to stare at the reunion.

Lily pressed her lips into a thin line as she clocked the scarring on Callisto’s back, watching the small cat breathe steadily instead of looking up at Finntello and his friend.

Veles lifted his own head to allow for a small amount of space between them as he opened his eyes to see Xevon already looking back up at him. He made no effort to hide the smug look on his own face as he listened. Slowly, a deliberate tilt of his head to one side.

“You’ll learn.” He hummed quietly, the hand on his jaw remained in place for a second longer before he moved to push his own hair back out of his face. His other arm remained planted beside Xevon’s head.

Veles had participated in this dance many times, alluring and charmful actions to lull people into his embrace. Chipping away at apprehension they may hold for him, that being said given their previous encounters, Xevon would take a lot more work to genuinely turn to his side.

–

Lily almost jumped out of her skin as she heard the voice raise a little and she snapped her head up to look over at the pair, Callisto’s little head also lifted up in surprise. The pair of them stared wide-eyed across the clearing before Lily began to take a few nervous steps forwards.

Once she made it up to the trailer and the woman began to usher them inside, her head tipping a little to look towards her and give a strained smile. “Thank you.” She murmured, her shoulders lifting up a little.

She was a smidge cold, but nothing too bad. Lily could imagine if they spent much longer outside though, she would probably have caught a cold. Once inside the trailer, her eyes skimmed around before they found Finntello and a little wave of relief came over her upon seeing someone familiar. She edged her way towards him, doing her best not to knock anything over or take up too much room. Continuing to try and offer Finn’s friend a polite smile, holding onto Callisto tightly, refusing to let the little git run rampant in the trailer.

Veles’s eyes sparked with amusement as he dropped his hand back down from his hair, landing it on Xevon’s jaw again. This time lower, under his jawbone and resting over his neck.

“Gladly.” He mused, the arm that was propping him up shifted so that he could hook his fingers into Xevon’s hair.

He had not quite expected this to be as seemingly easy as it was, Veles expected far more well blood to be involved initially. Perhaps the man had truly grown tired of his companion and his lack of action. Veles was certainly a man of action, it almost made sense why Xevon had shown up when he did.

–

Lily parted her lips a second before she spoke, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. At least this woman was being friendly and wasn’t staring at Finn’s wings in horror.

“Oh, uhm, thank you.” She repeated as she shuffled towards the couch and perched on the very edge of the cushions. “I’m Lily Faustlin.” She offered back to Alma with an accompanying smile.

However, Lily did steal a glance over towards Finn, unsure how much he was going to tell her about their previous confinement. She didn’t want to overstep and answer for him, instead she clutched onto Callisto.

Callisto was doing a very convincing normal cat act, if it weren’t for the terrible scarring on his back and jaw, he would have looked mundane. He sat in Lily’s arms, tail hanging down with the tip twitching back and forth slowly. Wide eyes peered up at Alma as his whiskers twitched as though he was sniffing her from a distance.

Frankly, Callisto didn’t want this Alma to turn on him and kick him out of her trailer for being the entire reason her friend had essentially been killed, sacrificed and now returned with wings. Instead, he would rather pretend to be a dumb cat and lick at his chest fur.

Veles almost purred as Xevon encircled his hands around his shoulders, he bit back the urge and dipped his head back down.

“Wonderful indeed.” He mumbled against Xevon’s lips before pressing them together again, perhaps the smallest bit more forward this time. Gliding his thumb along his jawline, slipping his hand up from Xevon’s neck to the side of his head. He most certainly did not let go of his grip on his hair, Veles wasn’t that idiotic. Having some sort of hold on Xevon when he was this close was a requirement, just in case. Always, just in case.

–

Lily stifled a sigh of relief as Finn began to explain, grateful that she didn’t have to try and explain the mess they were in. That was until Alma turned towards her, handing her a mug which she took with both hands and released Callisto. Cupping it close to her, Lily almost dropped the thing all over Callisto at the next words that came from her mouth.

Her jaw slacked and she darted her gaze over towards Finntello, staring with huge eyes and then she looked back at Alma. “Y-you were there too?” She stumbled out, almost knocking Callisto from her lap with her elbows.

Upon feeling the fur, she looked down at Callisto and knitted her eyebrows together. Now she really didn’t know how Alma would take to the idea that the culprit of the cult was sitting right in her home. Then she looked back up towards Alma with a new realisation. If she had run away with Finn’s father, then well she knew her family. They were the ringleaders, pale haired and overzealous. Perhaps Alma hadn’t recognised her, simply pinning her for another poor soul that had been sucked up into the cult's sacrifices.

“They sent us there. To him.” She swallowed hard, lowering the mug to her knees, still grasping it with two hands. The warmth emitting to her palms was certainly comforting despite the current topic of conversation. “But we managed to get out, we were..let out by him.” She flattened her lips into a thin line, she didn’t want to say someone had given themselves up for their safe return, it felt sour on her tongue and she hadn’t even said it.

Callisto had stepped down from Lily’s lap and was now creeping along the edge of the couch, trying to be as quiet as he could to get into a position where he might not be seen as easily. His head was lowered and ears back as he skirted the edges of the room.

Lily’s nose crinkled as she listened closely, she didn’t want to miss anything. Her heart almost broke as she heard about Finn’s mother, daring to glance over towards him. Now she felt horrid, she should have just given herself up to Veles and begged him to release the others. To stop asking for so many sacrifices, to find a new source of power.

Her eyes snapped back to Alma as she spoke Callisto’s name. The cat had frozen with one paw lifted from the ground, his fur bristling the second he heard her speak his name. He didn’t move. Expecting a knife or something to some flying at him and for this new life to end. Except it didn’t come. He carefully turned his head to look back towards the trio of people, now he was all the more confused. Unsure if he should pop himself back to normal, if he remained feline then perhaps he could avoid more difficult questions. All he wanted to do was get back to Xevon, he didn’t care about opinions at the moment.

“I-I, uhm.” She struggled to find her words. Lily looked back over towards Finn, at a loss for what she should really say. She hadn’t told him yet, not that she actively participated for so long. Her shoulders slumped and she looked down at the mug in her hands.

“I didn’t want to help them.” Her voice was barely a mumble. “If I didn’t help them, they would send me. I was scared.” Lily shrunk back into the couch, her eyes narrowing as she tried to combat her own emotions. “Not that it stopped them anyway.” The hint of anger was still there. “They sent me as his bride.” Lily hesitantly lifted her head back up to look at Alma, guilt and shame painted across her face.

“Who was he?” She queried, her memory wasn’t serving her. She was too young when this escape had occurred, still a child.

–

Veles was practically overflowing with smugness, he kept himself close to Xevon. Letting the hand from his jaw travel down along his body to his waist and gripped there instead. It was never on his radar that this is how Xevon would end up, perhaps exhausted and no longer fighting him but certainly not sprawled out in his quarters and practically begging for his touch.

After a minute, Veles drew himself back; he lingered only momentarily before he leaned his body backwards and kneeled on the lounge with Xevon below him. His hands had returned to himself and rested on his thighs as he surveyed Xevon.

“You still look exhausted.” He commented flippantly, cocking his head to one side. “You should rest.” With that, he unhooked himself from Xevon and stood back up beside the seat. “As should I, for that matter.” He did not invite Xevon to follow him, he didn’t exactly care whether he stayed where he was or followed him towards the bed in the corner.

Veles could easily summon another bed but where was the fun in that? As he approached the bed, he clicked his fingers beside him and just like before his clothes altered themselves. Losing the shirt entirely, dress pants were replaced with a flowy linen. He sat on the edge of his bed and looked over towards Xevon, waiting to see if he would move. If he didn’t, Veles simply turned back and lay down on the blankets. It was always a touch cold in here, but for the time being he remained on the top of the covers.